The Return
by Squall 'Tabuukilla' Lione
Summary: Subspace crawls back from the depths to threaten the world. Teenagers with significant ability to combat the returning threat are being gathered, and Subspace King begins to break free of his seal. Without the Smashers this time around, will the world suffer to the attacks of Subspace, or will the new generation prevail. Warning: All OCs for the most part.
1. All That Has A Beginning

**A/N: Hey! Look, another rewrite! ZOMG, how many times am I going to restart?**

**Actually, the version I released, to be fair, was kinda crappy. Yeah, it was better, but not my best. So, I'm rewriting it, as my absolute best this time! No cutting corners and rushing and all that! I also realized it was better to write this in third person rather than first, but there are going to be first person parts when necessary. I'll be trying not to slip between POVs in chapters. If there is a POV change, it will be a new chapter. **

**Why another rewrite? I took a look at the story. Then I took a look at the old Squall I had created. Guess what had happened? I had tried to incorporate heroes and other characters into him because I wanted to make him appeal in ways that others had created appeal, and lost the true character I had created. So, this Squall is the original Squall that I had made. Before the two/three year hiatus, but this time with a few updates to him and a better mind.**

**If you want a detailed explanation, previous Squall was an attempt at combining the heroes of several stories I had read into one character. This Squall is completely original. No shun everyone at the start, just the original boy who wanted to get by in life. Original Squall was just a guy who didn't really have social problems, was still an orphan (not anymore, though), but wasn't emotionally scarred or anything because of it, and just went along with life. This Squall here is like that, but still is a bit of delinquent this time around. As in, he's still got that 'Rage Against Authority' style going for him, but only when he feels its necessary. Sorry if this seems like it should be in the story, but I had a friend beta read this who also read all the other stuff who told me about how my Squall was like all those stories combined... and that's why this is here again.**

**Oh, it's also going to seem a bit Evangelion-like at the beginning, but trust me, that's only the intro. Ha, I just finish talking about combining heroes and we start off like another story. But hey, why not start by throwing in giant creatures who want to kill you rather than a boring train ride?**

**Also, most of you MIGHT say this doesn't qualify as an SSB fic sometimes, since there aren't Smashers and whatnot running over the place.**

**This is my explanation: Subspace was an idea from SSB, and all I have done is craft a story that is based around Subspace and the combat of it. It's still roughly in the universe of SSB, even if it is a little iffy on that.**

**So, without further ado, I GIVE YOU: THE RETURN!**

* * *

_A multicolored door stands deep in the darkness, illuminated only by said door. Chains upon chains hold it still as something continuously smashes against it, but yet the chains remain firm._

_Then suddenly, one of the chains break. But only one._

_The door creaks open silently, and inside the small crack, one is able to see that outline of a blue humanoid with a full set of crystal wings..._

* * *

_"So you're leaving?" a young girl asked sadly._

_"I'm sorry... But it's been decided I have to live with my uncle and aunt..." a midnight blue haired boy said, his sky blue eyes locking onto the crimson eyes of the girl._

_"Um..." the girl blushed, "Before you go, I have a gift for you..."_

_"Eheh... same here..." the boy smiled, pulling out a small box similar to the girl's, "Here."_

_"Okay, take this."_

_They opened the boxes at the same time, and smiled._

_The boy pulled out a music player that had crimson clip on earphones, engraved with the symbol for infinity on each one, along with the words "To Brighter Day"._

_The girl pulled out her gift, a music player that had sky blue clip-ons, engraved with a wing pattern, along with the words "To The Sky!"_

_"Wow..." they gasped, "Thanks..."_

_"Aw..." the girl groaned, "Your train's coming."_

_"Dang... Hey, let's promise eachother something!"_

_"What should we promise?"_

_"Somewhere, someday, let's meet up again!"_

_"Nah, too easy," the girl smiled, "I know! Let's do that, and then we'll get married!"_

_"A marriage promise, huh? Alright, I can do that!"_

_"Let's seal it with a kiss then."_

_"Wait, what?" the boy was silenced when the girls lips crashed onto his, if only for a split second._

_"T-there..." she blushed, "We've sealed our promise! We'll get married one day!"_

_"Right!" he said as the train stopped, "We'll meet again! I swear it on my life!"_

* * *

Squall Fortuna sighed as he stepped off the train, "Hey Uncle Roy."

"Heee~eey!" the man called Roy, who had flaming orange hair that was unkempt while being dressed casually called back, somewhat sing-song. _Crazy Uncle Roy_, Squall chuckled mentally.

"Hello, Squall." his Aunt Samantha, who had normally colored hair (with her being a brunette), greeted the boy with a smile.

"So, guess I'm stuck here?" Squall said with a grin, "Well, let's get going."

And so Squall's childhood began.

To be honest, it could have gone a lot worse. There were a lot of other ways his life could've gone, but fortunately things went on a good path.

"So, do you know why my mom and dad sent me out here?" Squall asked as he set down his latest edition of _Reader's Digest_.

"Your mom and dad are very busy, they didn't want to isolate you because of work." Roy answered, circling another word on his word search in the newspaper.

"Hm, okay." Squall grunted, getting up. To a seven year old, he was quite smart. Teased for being a nerd at school, Squall's sheer mental capabilities made him impervious to any possible bullying.

Then again, a few insults every now and then got past his barrier, and he felt very insecure inside at times... but he'd push past it. But despite the fact he dealt with the insults and jests, he couldn't deny that it still hurt.

* * *

_Tch, I wish this pain inside would just go away..._ Squall mused to himself as he stared out at the lake, "Huh?"

He noticed a small suitcase made of leather, still dripping wet, meaning it had been in the lake for a while and not just left there recently. Checking no one was looking, he went over and opened it, "Wow..."

Inside, there were books, figurines, and other assorted goods. The first one that caught his eye was one that read _Gurren Lagann. _He decided to take it home. At first, his aunt and uncle were concerned that he had stolen it, but he had explained the situation.

"Heh, well, looks like Squall's discovered manga." Roy chuckled, "As young as I was as well when I too, discovered it."

"And look how you ended up." Samantha took a jab at him, playfully punching him.

"With you, no less." Roy rolled his eyes. Squall let out a pained groan, his guardians were at it again. They were flirting with eachother and it got on Squall's nerves to absolutely no end.

"Uncle Roy, Aunt Samantha... please... I don't want to hear it..." he sighed, irritated.

"Bwhahaha!" Roy laughed, "Trust me, Squall, one day, you might- No, you WILL be doing the same thing!"

The look on his face of not pure shock, but pure _terror_ etched upon his face was priceless. It just wasn't possible! Squall Fortuna... flirting? The thought itself was crazy!

And then he fainted.

* * *

"Ugh..." Squall groaned as he got up. He looked at his work desk to find the suitcase opened with a post-it note on _Gurren Lagann _in his Uncle's handwriting that read 'This one is a good one!'.

_Might as well read this... There's a few disks as well._

And so Squall began his ascent to the heavens by piercing them.

Within minutes he had found the paragon of manliness, Kamina, and his 'bro', Simon, which reminded him a lot of himself, save for some parts. Squall wanted to _be_ Kamina, looking unafraid and ultra-confident.

Then, by halfway through the series, Squall realized he shouldn't be Kamina, but be his own person... just like his heroes. Going onto tomorrow head on, ready to go to whatever future they wanted. Probability, multiple dimensions, nothing would get in Squall's way of his Brighter Day. He soon coined the phrase, "To Brighter Day!" which became his catchphrase.

Posters went up in his room, and suddenly, it felt as if the voice of Kamina was permanently ingrained into his brain.

Opening up small notebook, Squall wrote the title of what this notebook would be called: A Guideline To Life.

The first thing written: Carry on to tomorrow. If that tomorrow isn't what you're looking for, then keep going onto tomorrow until you find the tomorrow you're looking for... No, grasp- No, MAKE the tomorrow you want, with your own two hands!

Second: When tasked with the choice to save the girl, or the world, pick both. And have the guts and courage to back it up.

* * *

Next came a Halo graphic novel. By the time he was reading this, he was ten. He had quite a lot of friends, as his seemingly unlimited confidence in himself was something that attracted others to him as if they could tap into his confidence if they were around him. Squall was very mature for his age, some might say too mature, but he was never afraid to let his inner kid shine through and have a good time.

And so he plunged into the war of humans and aliens.

Hours were spent upon learning about the legendary, seemingly undefeated SPARTANs that were feared among the stronger, alien race of the Covenant. They were unafraid. They were willing to fight. They were... amazing. Marching on to face those that would destroy them... it was breathtaking to Squall.

Then another voice seemingly implanted itself into his head. One of a silent SPARTAN... yet smart and logical.

Two more things went into his guidebook: Finish things all the way through, and Never Run Away. The latter was starred and circled. Then bolded.

* * *

Of course, Squall would attract unwanted attention from certain people. A few boys in his grade were quite upset with him for always being the center of attention and being so strong. Squall never really realized how popular he was, much to the disappointment of many, many girls in his school. Not that did anything for his stalkers despite the fact he was still in 7th grade, where the want for dating seemed to arise, according to Squall's observations. It was one of his hobbies and reasons why he stared out the window in class. The reflection was _great _for observing others in secret.

One day, when Squall was alone, swinging on the swing, admiring his Core Drill replica around his neck, they came for him.

"Hm, what do we have here?" the leader of the trio that approached Squall asked. The leader was dressed in a gray T-shirt, black jeans and sweater, and had his silver hair rather spiky.

"Lione." Squall said curtly as he heard his voice, slowly down his swinging as he feet dragged themselves across the ground, "What is it that you require?"

"Huh, a smart one," one of Lione's followers said sarcastically. Squall would've winced before, but now he held confidence in himself and glared, causing the follower to back off slightly.

"Hey, look at that shiny thing around his neck, lemme see it!" the other lunged, but Squall held it protectively.

"No. Now, please leave me alone." Squall said politely, trying to go for the peaceful route.

"I said, lemme see it!" they held up Squall, who wasn't as tall as them yet.

"Ugh..." Squall grunted, "Hey!"

"Huh, it's a drill." Lione commented. "Looks valuable."

"Maybe he stole it- whachyousay, little guy?"

"Give it back." Squall growled, "Give me back my soul. The drill is my soul..."

"Ha! Listen to this pile of cr- OW!" Lione yelled as Squall kicked his stomach.

"GIVE IT BACK!" Squall yelled, going into a wild fit of movement, hitting all the boys.

"Here! Take it!" Lione threw the drill back, but Squall didn't care.

He came back home after hitting them senseless, and with multiple bruises to boot.

His guardians were outraged that they attacked Squall and wanted them expelled, but Squall wouldn't allow it. After all, they had to learn their lesson. He immediately saw the effects as he limped in on his walking stick (despite the fact he should've been using crutches. He was very, _very_ attached to the walking stick), since one of them had taken a cheap shot at his legs. The popularity of the boys had gone to below zero, but eventually they were accepted back as Squall said to forgive them, as they didn't really know what they were doing.

That only made him even more loved. Not that Squall noticed, anyways. He just thought he was doing the right thing.

* * *

One day, Squall was studying when he heard knocking. Opening the door, he found it to be Lione. He immediately gripped his Core Drill necklace.

"Hey." Lione's gaze fell to the floor but quickly was picked up, with him gaining the courage to look Squall in the eye.

"Yo."

"Uh... I came to... apologize..." Lione said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Accepted." Squall stated quickly.

"Wait, what?"

"You don't remember what happened at school? I forgave all of you." Squall said calmly.

"But, you can't just do that!"

"Why not? I don't need a reason to forgive." Squall shrugged, remembering that to be number twenty three in his _Guideline to Life._

"But- I mean, shouldn't we have to do something in order to deserve it?"

"Fine. Then be good."

"Wait, what?"

"Your group is very strong. Much stronger than me. But you guys are going about it wrong. Those who posses strength should use it to protect the weak. Just do that, and you'll be fine. If you're unsure, I'd be glad to take you under my wing."

"A-alright..." Lione smiled, "Can we start over? I'm Lione Liovonel."

"I'm Squall Fortuna, well met."

And so an unbreakable bond was formed.

Squall also had another thing to write into his guideline notebook that night.

* * *

_#25: Sometimes, your best friends come from your worst enemies._

* * *

At about twelve years old, he set his sights on Warhammer 40K.

And so, Squall plummeted into the deep darkness of its world.

Most twelve year olds would be traumatized if they even tried to understand this universe.

But Squall was not 'most twelve year olds'.

He loved all of it just as he had loved all the other series he had read, watched, and whatnot about. _Especially _the Orks and their 'Waaaaaagh's, the Dakka, all of it.

And so, another voice put itself into his head.

* * *

"Aunt Samantha, Uncle Roy?" Roy smiled as he saw Squall approach them. The only time Squall would _ever _attach 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' to their names was if he wanted something. And judging by the blazing red face Squall had, he knew _exactly _what he was going to ask about. After all, he _was _fourteen...

Squall couldn't help but groan at the voices in his head, and now there were four. He had already identified them. One was based off Kamina, another on a SPARTAN, another on one of the Orks, and the last was his Anima.

"Yes Squall?" Roy asked, holding back a smile.

"I... uh..."

"Come on, don't be afraid!" Clyde, the Kamina-esque one yelled.

"I... need a violin... to join the school full orchestra..."

"Why now?" his aunt asked, holding back a smirk as she saw Roy's face, "You never really showed much interest before."

"Th-there's... a girl-" Heather Yamuko, to be exact. She was a beautiful blonde girl with light green eyes that melted Squall's heart when he had met her though one of his other friends. Needless to say, he wasn't coherent for a little while, needing Lione to dope slap him on the back of the head to bring him back to earth. However much Lione teased him about it, he would never admit it to his friends because the teasing would never leave him at that point.

"Excuse me, I need some air." Roy immediately got up and left.

No one would hear him laughing his lungs out if he was outside, after all.

Samantha rolled her eyes at Roy, "Squall, there's something about music though."

"Yes, Samantha?"

She smiled, "The thing is, you have to really like music in order to really be good. If you're just doing it for the girl, then it's empty notes. Also, don't you already play piano?"

"Yes! But the thing is, I want to really get good at the violin, because then she'll like me more! And violin is one of the only spots available!"

_So his love of music already helps..._ she smiled, _and it's his first crush too._

"Very well, Squall. We'll also get a teacher, but you have to promise to be the best you can be!" she smiled.

"Yeah! I will, Aunt Samantha!"

* * *

Squall fervently practiced violin, his skill soaring through the roof within the first few weeks. By the end of his first month he was playing several page long songs from memory with how much he played. He also had to bandage his fingers frequently since his fingers began bleeding from all the playing. His dedication however, let him play on even when injured.

Soon it came time for the auditions, which were held on a Saturday afternoon.

"So bossman, you up for it?" Lione chuckled.

"Yeah," Squall laughed, "I had to practice a bit less though, since the bandages were actually starting to break from all the playing. But I'll manage."

"Course, you're Squall Fortuna!"

"Alright, well, I'm heading it. I'll tell ya how it went later."

"Seeya."

"No 'Good Luck'?"

"Bossman, you don't need luck."

"Never hurt anyone to have a bit of good luck. But thanks." Squall smiled as he walked in.

* * *

Squall hummed along with the trumpeter's song. It wasn't a bad tune. Where had he heard it before?

"Oh, hey Mackenzie." he waved.

"Huh? Oh, it's just you, Squall." Mackenzie smiled. They had been good friends already ever since they were paired up together for a science project. Lione teased him mercilessly about it. She also was Heather's, his crush, friend, and Squall had taken use of every opportunity to make a hint at a pass when Heather was around.

"Are you ready?" Sydney, his Anima, which had found its voice in his mind, asked.

"Od core da boss eez redie!" Luke, the inner Ork in his head yelled.

"With all the training you have put in, commander, you need not to be afraid of failure." Emile, the silent and smart SPARTAN voice reassured him.

"Yeah! Just don't worry about what-ifs and all that! Go ahead and just do it!" Clyde gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks guys" Squall smiled.

"Next!" the orchestra leader called out.

"Go ahead, Mackenzie." Squall gestured.

"Oh, no. You should-"

"Come on, I'd love to hear you play."

"A-alright." she went in. After a few seconds of silence Squall heard the comforting tune she played, and it sounded a lot like a lullaby.

"Next!"

"Very good, Mackenzie!" Squall smiled as he walked in. He sat on the small seat, "I'm Squall Fortuna, playing the violin."

The world was silent as he closed his eyes and imagined himself in a deep blue ballroom, playing the only music.

And so Squall began to play.

At the end of the song, he got up, and noticed Heather standing there with the orchestra leader as he opened his eyes.

"Hm, what do you think, Heather?"

"He's... good." she said flatly.

"Alright then!" the orchestra leader clapped, "Squall will serve as our new violinist and Mackenzie will be his backup."

"Thank you," Squall gave a small bow of appreciation.

"Practice is after school on Wednesday, we end about 4:30." Heather smiled at him. Squall fought hard to keep his knees from buckling.

"T-thanks... so, uh... See you around, I guess?" Squall grinned sheepishly, _Oh crap oh crap what do I do?_

"Commander! Get a hold of yourself!" Emile mentally shook his head, "You've faced far worse than this... this... thing that makes you just weak at the knees by merely a SMILE!"

"Man up! I can't be with a guy who merely is weakened by a girl's smile!"

"Hey! The power of a smile can be very great!" Sydney, his Anima argued.

"Like you'd know, Ms. Be Friendly To All Living Things and then Ms. I WANT THE WORLD TO BURN!"

"Wot a luvelie shad o' tundear."

"I think he means, 'What a lovely shade of tsundere.'" Emile sighed as he had to translate Luke to the other parts of Squall's subconscious.

"Yeah, I know what he means," Squall smirked inwardly as he left the building after packing up.

"So, how'd it go, bossman?" Lione winked.

"Great! I'm reporting for practice next Wednesday!"

"Oh Squall! I heard you got the part! Congrats!"

"Agh! Mackenzie! No hugging!" Squall's face turned red upon the close contact.

"Awwww... Is Squall embarassed?" she cooed.

"I'll leave you two alone, is that okay with you, bossman?"

"No it isn't! Don't leave me here with... this... this... I can't describe it."

"IT? I am a young lady, damnit!"

"Whoa! We're in middle school! No need to curse!" Squall chuckled.

"Well, seeya guys!"

"Wait Lione, NO!"

Lione laughed as Squall's screams of help were muffled to his headphones.

* * *

Over time, Squall would make passing attempts, but something was holding him back. He couldn't quite figure it out, and even Clyde had no way past it.

He was happy with how everyone had seemingly turned out.

Lione and his buds were doing good now, recruiting others into what Lione called the 'Tensei Brigade', as Squall had reincarnated them from bad to good. He felt a bit of regret at how Lione had recruited small kids and often gave them candy, but they were loyal, and children _were _innocent looking.

Soon graduation came around, and Squall didn't really expect his parents to be there.

"And now a few words from our school's best student, Squall Fortuna!"

He wasn't expecting that.

"Well," he said as he stepped up to the podium, "If I'm going to give a speech, give me two minutes to change into something... better."

In about a minute (Lione timed it on his watch. It was one minute and two point oh four six seconds exactly), Squall came back still in dress clothes, but wearing a longcoat rather than his dress jacket.

"Ah, that's better," Squall removed the mic from the stand, "Well, I actually had no idea I was going to be doing this. So here goes!"

"A letter was sent to you a week ago." the principal commented, "It should've arrived on Thursday of last week."

"Busy playing Warhammer: Dawn of War, my bad." Squall shrugged, "Sorry, gotta stop Chaos. Oh wait that was Wednesday. I was watching Soul Eater Thursday. Anyway... so... I guess I talk about how we've changed? Well, to be honest, it was two years. Ain't much that happened. Though since we didn't get this stuff when we left elementary, I guess we can start there. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to look upon this group of fine young men and women that will one day be the ones who run this world. May that plague your nightmares. I'm just kidding. No, I 'm not. Anyway, can you remember when you let go of their hand and watched them walk into that death trap known as elementary? Well, the image of my dad has always been one I've never really been proud of. Seriously, what dad leaves their did at six and a half to live here to go WORK?" Squall paused, "No offense to this town. Seriously, I love it here. Anyway, family issues aside, just remember when you let them go. Now look at them, now it's you who wants to keep them close and now they want to be the ones who want to be let go. It's a beautiful completion of the circle. No need for death like Star Wars circle completion. Anyway, this speech is getting really long, and the audience might get really bored," he looked right into the camera of the guy who was recording the whole thing, "So let's wrap this up, 'kay? So, in short, let your resolves to keep going in life be like a drill. Keep on spinning. And while your at it, pierce the heavens with it while your at it. Don't be distracted by the what-ifs, should've-s, and if only-s. Just keep going, no regrets. Thanks for your time that you won't get a refund for."

Squall sat back down.

And then the applause erupted.

"WHAT THE HELL MY EARS ARE DYING!" Squall yelled but was muted under all the applause.

_Gah! _Sydney groaned, _I am TRYING to have some peace and quiet!_

_She on her period again? _Clyde rolled his eyes.

_**THWACK!**  
_

_Don't make any jokes like that. You're bound to insult someone._

_Who, a guy reading Squall's thoughts? _Emile asked, _The likelihood of that happening is near impossible._

_And Clyde has often said, as long as it isn't zero, it may as well be one hundred percent. _Sydney huffed.

_Touche... _Clyde grimaced.

_GUYS SHUT UP! _Squall yelled inwardly, _I don't need arguing while my eardrums are bursting from the audience!_

_Yes Squall. _several voices said at once.

* * *

"Nice speech," Lione nudged Squall as he grabbed a plate of cookies.

"Cookies? Really?" Squall asked, wiping the barbecue sauce off his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah. And I could say 'Really?' about the longcoat as well."

"Can't give an awesome speech without the longcoat. Don't know why my speech was really good though. Maybe it's the hair."

"Good job, Squall!" Mackenzie hugged him, "I think it was the hair too."

"Oh shut up," he caught sight of Heather, "Uh, 'scuse me, I'll be right back."

"Here he goes. Godspeed, Squall." Lione gave a silent prayer.

"Who are you praying to?" Mackenzie asked.

"The Goddess." he replied.

Squall knew it, and it was his fault. Give Lione enough time to play Crisis Core and suddenly become a Genesis fanboy and suddenly he's worshiping Genesis' supposed 'goddess' as well.

"Uh... what's Squall doing?"

"He's going to ask out Heather."

Mackenzie felt a sting of jealousy, but it was shoved aside. After all, Squall should have someone who was sophisticated as hell like he could be at times. _Heck, _she smiled, _that sixth grade essay of his sounded like a college paper. How did he become... so mature?_

* * *

"Ah! Heather!" Squall called out.

"Oh, who's this?" her mother asked. Her father simply looked past Squall as if he was a delinquent. Then again, longcoats _do _tend to give off the image.

"He's a friend. Don't worry mother, this will be but a minute." she took Squall aside.

"So, uh, Heather. Now that we're uh, in high school, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out sometime, maybe, grab an ice cream or something..." he said, fighting a massive blush, "Er, uh, I mean, as friends and stuff!"

Heather looked over Squall's shoulder and saw her parents chuckling, and sighed. Grabbing Squall's arm, she took him somewhere more private, despite the image it may have given.

"Yeah. You're right. We're in high school now. So I've had enough with your little kiddy antics!"

_Phew, WAIT WHAT? _Squall's mind went reeling.

"Before, it was kinda cute, but it's annoying. Don't bother following me in high school, and don't take this too hard. Why go with some... little weirdo like you," Squall thought about it for a second. He was taller than her... so... "when I've got someone _cool _waiting for me in high school? So don't go making a fool of yourself. Why don't you go out with Mackenzie, I mean, you guys deserve eachother, right?"

Before Squall could formulate a response, she left.

"Alright mother, father, I'm done."

* * *

_Does... not... compute... _Emile twitched.

_WHAT? WHAT THE HELL DID SHE JUST SAY? _Clyde roared.

_Wadda? Wadda el ust appenad? _Luke yelled.

_I am... speechless... completely, utterly, ridiculously, speechless. _Sydney said full of an emotion Squall was too emotionally distraught to figure out.

Squall stood in silence for another five seconds before mentally screaming, _WHAT THE LIVING **FUCK **DID SHE JUST SAY?_

_Squall__- _

_No one, no one talk for now. I don't need part of my subconscious saying something that'll set me off. _Squall sighed as he walked back out. _W-why would she hate me? Squall's a good child!_

_**KAMINA CHOP OF MANLINESS! I MEAN, CLYDE CHOP OF MANLINESS!**  
_

_**FUCK! THAT HURT!**_

_Snap outta it, little bro! You're freakin' talking in third person in a bad way! You're going emo! _Clyde slapped Squall again.

_Bayken da trird wull tu! _Luke roared.

_Wait, what? _Squall asked, _And how the hell do you hit so hard... YOU'RE PART OF MY BRAIN! H-How?_

_Good to see you're back. Anyway, remember, don't get set back just because of some 'what if's and 'if only's! YOU SAID IT YOURSELF!_

_Yeah... yeah... _Squall sighed, walking back into the main room.

"Hey, bossman!" Lione greeted, cookie crumbs still on his mouth, "Saw you with Heather! How'd it go?"

A hollow and emotionless gaze gave him his answer.

"Oh... damn... you want me and Da Brigade to do something 'bout it?"

"No," Squall nodded, "we never hit a girl who didn't strike us first. And she didn't do anything to me physically. If I'm... unresponsive towards any calls, you know why..."

"Got it bossman," Lione accepted Squall's word as if it was his lifeline. After all, he owed Squall a lot over the years, despite how much Squall denied it. He had started the whole calling Squall 'bossman' in the first place. Every good thing that he did was because of Squall. Every smile and compliment from doing said things, therefore, was because of Squall. In Lione's opinion at least. Though Squall did confide in Lione his greatest fear, that Lione would become too much like a minion rather than a friend, and if there was one thing Squall ever wanted, it was to just be normal and have friends. Okay, maybe it was two things, but either way, Squall didn't want to be a commander or anything like that. Just... a normal child, "I guess... I'll see you around?"

"Yeah," Squall turned away, "Wait, Lione."

"Yes, bossman?"

"She said something about having a highschooler waiting for her. Take a look into that."

"Want us to stomp him up a bit?"

"No. Gather information, that's all." Squall nodded, "Seeya later."

Squall walked over to his aunt and uncle, "So the bastard didn't show."

"Squall! Language!" Samantha gasped at his language.

"I don't see any other word fit for him," Squall shrugged, "Let's go home."

* * *

Squall sighed as he woke up.

_Good morning, commander._

"Oh, hey Emile," Squall whispered, "The others up? Then again, if they're me, how is it I'M awake and they aren't? Then again you guys can whack my head..."

_It's complicated._

"Right, right." Squall rolled his eyes as he walked downstairs after taking a shower.

"Good morning," Roy greeted as Squall made himself a cup of hot chocolate. Who gave a damn he drank hot drinks in the middle of June? "How are you?"

"Feeling empty. Weird." Heather's words echoed in his mind. It wasn't the hair, wasn't it? Oh of course, his badass midnight blue hair would attract ALL the girls except the one he wanted.

"It's only because you're so used to the routine that once it's over, you're outta it." he chuckled, "Well-"

Knocking on the door.

"I'll go get it." Squall got up and opened the door, "Oh, hello Mackenzie."

"H-hi, Squall. U-uh, may I come in?"

"Er, sure. Hold on," he saw his cackling guardians eyeing him curiously, and Roy was pointing upstairs, presumably meaning his room, "Yeah, let's head upstairs. _Where no one can eavesdrop._" he hissed, subtly gesturing towards his guardians, now stifling their laughter.

Heading upstairs, Mackenzie was amazed as she saw Squall's room, which was, in her words, either mindblowing amazing for awesomely terrifying. There was no way Squall could be _chaste _with all the posters up here. All the Gurren Lagann up with pictures of Yoko, Soul Eater with several _choice _shots of Blair, and was that Haruhi in her bunny costume? Sure, there were other posters, but those were the ones that caught her eye.

"So, why'd you come here?" he asked as he looked out the window, toying with his Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann figure, a hint of apathy laced in his voice.

"Oh, Squall!" Mackenzie _had _to notice Squall didn't complain as she hugged him tightly, "I heard what happened between you and Heather!"

"So you did." he subtly clenched his fist.

"You deserve so much better than that, though! It was wrong what she did!' Mackenzie wailed, hugging him even tighter.

"There's nothing I can do about it now." he said in a monotone that scared Mackenzie, "I suppose she told everyone, huh?"

"I-it's not that! It's just that everyone noticed the difference between before and after you talked!"

_I was that obvious? I need to work on that, _Squall sighed. Lione might've told a select few that decided to spread it as well, "Once again, nothing I can do."

"You can't say that!" she turned him and buried herself into his chest, crying, "Just because she's pretty, rich, and all that doesn't mean she can just... just reject you like that! You're smart, funny, caring... cute..." she stared into Squall's sky blue orbs, "You don't deserve to have your feelings thrown aside and stomped on!" He winced at the word 'stomped', "Just... know you're not disliked by everyone! There's others that care for you still... I wish I could be you... so brave..."

"Never wish to be like someone or be someone." he said, going into lesson mode, "Be your own person. You can be brave, but in your own way. Anyway, there's already someone else."

"Huh," _Awww... _"I guess so... I'm not as smart or sophisticated or-"

"No, Mackenzie. I mean _Heather _has someone else for her in high school. I can't stand in the way, I suppose." Squall sighed again, fingers resting on his core drill.

"W-what? T-that's crazy! You only asked her to go eat-"

"Ice cream."

"Ice cream. Right." she nodded vigorously, "That's not a date!" _Okay, maybe it is, but still! _"But to already have someone in high school? What's she _thinking?"_

"It's most likely at attempt at reaching past her supposed 'social limits' she's supposed to have for right now. Trying to seem older," he sighed, "We're too young."

"You don't sound young."

"Heh, I get that sometimes." he lay down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling, "Sometimes I think I'm just a reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh."

Mackenzie wasn't really used to this casual, playful side of Squall. She giggled, "Maybe some undigested cheese?"

"Must be all the milk I drank. Knew it would come back to kill me one day. Damn my love of dairy products!" he waved a fist at the sky.

Mackenzie lay down next to him as well, and smiled. Everything was seemingly perfect. Now, all she'd have to do is-

"No, I don't think we should be going out," Squall sighed, sensing what she was about to do, "What are we, Mackenzie? Close friends? We're comfortable with this distance we are with eachother, though it's not much," he chuckled, poking her on the arm, "Why bother making the distance uncomfortable with eachother and full of tension?" he intwined his fingers with hers, "I mean, it would be nice... and I remember something earlier."

"What?"

"When I left for here, when I was six, I got this," he held up his music player and crimson earphones, "It was a... parting gift. I made a promise then with the... girl who gave me this. We promised one day to meet somewhere, somehow, sometime. But then she took it a step further and we made a Childhood Marriage Promise. And I intend to keep that promise. I know I sound crazy, but what if she's serious about it and _I _don't take it seriously, and end up crushing her heart? I couldn't live with myself."

"I see... you're really a caring soul, Squall." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Maybe. I've always just tried to be polite." he shrugged, "Hey, Mackenzie."

"Yes?"

"I want you to go tell Heather I don't hate her. Wait, not yet. Go home and think about what you're going to say. We both know that she will mock you. She will mock me. Prepare yourself and steel your will and mind."

"Y-yes..."

_Encourage her, commander._

"Remember, you're her friend. She's just... a bit misguided at this point. Perhaps my speech earlier might have had... unforeseen consequences."

"N-no, it wasn't you!"

_Keep going._ Emile said in his head, _Give her clear instructions like a good commander would._

"Just... remind her of who she really is. Can you do that?"

"Y-yes!"

"Good. Now, go get your friend back."

Mackenzie's heart could've melted. _This _was the real Squall, a caring young man who just wanted others to be happy. That marriage promise he was keeping wasn't so he could meet the girl, but make sure she was fine keeping it, she realized.

"You deserve better." she whispered, "Heather isn't good enough for you."

* * *

"Yoz, Squall!"

"Lione?" Squall asked as he saw Mackenzie off, "No, get your head out of the gutter."

"Wasn't there in the first place, bossman." he smirked, "Anyway, onto business. We found out the guy. Hiro Nakimasa, sophmore in high school. Runs the high school mob thing, not like OUR brigade! Our guys last saw him heading towards the forest park with Heather. Thing is, we send our guys, they're gonna get hurt."

"Then don't."

"But he hurt you! Then he hurt all of us!"

"He did not hurt me. But he might hurt Heather..." Squall groaned, understanding what might happen, "He might use her body. Break her." He knew the intellectual part of rape. Why it happened, the mental drive and whatnot. Heather _was _rather well developed for her age... "Shit! I just sent Mackenzie, and she's biking home. I want you to protect her, since she's going to go talk to Heather."

"Got it, bossman!" he saluted, "Whaddaya want me to do?"

"Just protect her. Also get the Brigade. Bring sticks, rocks. Nothing sharp or stabbing things. Also a bit of food. We also have to remember to get them some candy later." _How many lives have I accidently corrupted? _Squall sighed, "I'll grab something. Meet you there."

Squall ran back into the house and put on a shirt that wasn't worn out beyond use. His favorite black shirt with a flaming infinity sign in the center on his chest. Then he donned his newest longcoat, a sleek black coat that blew in the wind. Screw the fact it was July and ninety degrees outside, he needed to look **BADASS**. Combing his hair to cover one eye, he turned his attention to his closet.

"Hey, let's go," he reached in and grabbed his newest staff/walking stick and slung it over his shoulder. _When am I suddenly talking to inanimate objects again?_

It had been fifteen minutes since Lione left, "Damn, I need to hurry."

* * *

Dashing through the town and leaping over fences, Squall reached the park in record time.

"'Scuse me, coming through!" Squall shoved his way past the crowd, "Ah! Lione!"

Lione was behind the yellow tape, and Squall mentally cursed at himself, hoping he wasn't too late.

"Bossman!" he pushed past the cops and headed over to Squall, "Cops were upset I wasn't talking, but I had to tell you first! I got here, and so Hiro's approaching Mackenzie, and I gotz him, bossman! I got 'im good!" Suddenly he frowned, "But Valkyrie's broke." he held up the broken pieces of his wooden gunblade, "May the Goddess watch her spirit."

Squall decided to go along, as Lione was seriously heartbroken, "We'll organize a... proper farewell."

"Right... I need to go give me report to the cops now."

"HEY! YOU!"

"Squall! It's those guys from the high school mob!" Lione hissed, "They probably heard what happened to their leader!

"I'll deal with them."

Squall calmly walked up the group, "How can I help y-"

He didn't get to finish as they tried to stab his brain but hit his left eye.

Squall didn't scream.

**_Let's see you grit those teeth._**

"You got it... Clyde." Squall whispered as the crowd gasped and pointed.

Calmly reaching with his left hand, Squall removed the knife from his eye socket and dropped it. Unslinging the walking stick, he dropped it. Unflinching in his walk towards them, all but the co-leader ran as Squall cracked his knuckles.

Squall wasted no time beating him within an inch of his life.

Then he blacked out.

* * *

_Ugh... what happened? _Squall groaned, _Huh, my eye's feeling different..._

"Hey."

"Oh, Mackenzie. What's up?"

"Not much. You beat that guy nearly to the death. Luckily you stopped just before you blacked out. Paramedics were on scene already, and they're still wondering how you pulled the knife out of your eye."

"I don't know really," he sighed, "What's with my eye?"

"Robotic eye," she read off the clipboard, "Lione said something about grabbing 'Da Brigade'."

"So, what happened to you?"

"Well, I got there, and I told her that what she was doing was wrong... and then shit happened. She got angry. So I left." she sniffed, and Squall held her hand which comforted her, "A-and then I thought of how brave you were! So I went back. A-and s-she was naked! She w-was saying something about how he didn't have to feel guilty now, so I leapt out and stopped them! He w-was just taking off h-his pants, and t-then he glared at me, and slowly walked towards me after r-removing them!"

"Keep going." Squall stroked her cheek, "He can't get you here."

"R-right! T-then... he came. I mean, Lione's your friend, but I never really talked to him before. He came in with that wooden gunblade of his, and charged the guy! He yelled things like _'This is for Da Bossman!' _and _'Don't you DARE hurt friends of my commander!' _and _'You'll regret the day you abused your strength!'. _He get kept getting knocked down, but got back up everytime! Even when he was bleeding and bruised, Lione got back up! His enemy would have to kill him to make him stay down! There was a point where Lione delivered a punch to what he called a 'Solar Plexus', which knocked him out. He gave me his coat once I gave my shirt to Heather... and wouldn't let me tend to his wounds. He'd nod 'no' and say they weren't wounds but war scars, and he should wear them proudly. He wouldn't even look at us, even if we were... partially clothed." she smiled at Squall and rested in his chest, "Your his Bossman, right? He's always calling you that..."

"Yes..."

"Mackenzie!" a man came into the room, which Squall recognized as the police chief, followed by Lione. He looked at Squall like a normally overprotective father would when he saw his daughter burrowing her head in his chest.

"D-dad! I-it's not what it looks like!"

"Mackenzie. Go on, you can return to your dad... I'll be fine here."

"But Squall!"

"I'm in good hands," he looked at Lione, "Right?"

"You know it!" he grinned, "Da Bossman of the Tensei Brigade's got his men to take care of him!"

"Brigade? Bossman?" Mackenzie's dad asked, "Can you tell me how he's the boss?" _This kid running a rival mob?_

"Of course! He teaches his men how to act! He says to use strength to protect the week, but those who are weak can be strong when the need to. He also says to not be distracted by the what-if's and if-only's in life! Also, he says to always put your men first!"

"Squall's my _friend_, dad." Mackenzie added, "Can I tell him about the Promise?"

"Yeah... I'm no longer embarrassed about that story." Squall smiled.

"Promise?"

Mackenzie told him about the Childhood Marriage Promise Squall told her about, his eyes widening. Lione knew that's just how loyal Squall couldbe, but this was blowing his mind.

_A young man who's that dedicated?_ the police chief inwardly laughed. _Ha! I see a young leader in the making..._ He looked at the trio, his daughter holding the boy's hand despite his obvious embarrassment, turning away, saying something about, "Not in front of Lione. Never mind, just never!", and their laughter, _That boy's a wild card, huh? Maybe my daughter can learn a thing or two from him about leadership. Ha! She'll be the mayor one day if she wants!_

"Mackenzie, I'm going. You can stay here with your friends."

"Oh... okay dad. I'll see you later."

"So, you're a cyborg now, huh, bossman?" Lione asked.

"I'm **_MEGAMAN_**!" Squall sang, laughter erupting between them.

"Anyway Squall, aren't you gonna see Heather? Maybe she'll take you now, since I told her later you sent me."

"No."

"Huh? Why not?"

"It's her happy ending, most likely, to be able to forget about this incident, how she pushed me away like that. I don't want to ruin her happy ending with putting me in it... it'll be personal reminder to this day. That's insult to injury, and I want her to be happy... I've done my part now. Besides, it's good enough of an ending for me to see others happy." Squall grinned, "If she asks me, I'll give her the same explanation... Mackenzie, can you tell her I forgive her? If I tell her... it'll hard on her..."

"Got it..." she smiled, "Right now?"

"Later... for now... I want to spend some time with my friends."

* * *

For the next year, Squall would continue his adventures with his subconscious friends.

It was a wonderful year for him.

Heather went from Ice Queen to his close friend. It turns out her parents were paying off the high schooler's family because they wanted her to be on the fast track to growing up. They had lost face, and Heather was ashamed, but Squall understood why and heartily accepted her as a friend, even though he no longer harbored certain feelings for her. She however, acted on her true feelings, however Squall told her of his promise, but she swore she'd be there in case the mystery girl wasn't serious. It may have seemed like a cop out ending to a sappy romance film, but Lione (and Squall, though he was reluctant to admit it), were rather fond of such books.

Mackenzie became an 'almost' girlfriend for him, and would get into tug of wars for Squall with Heather. They showered him with affection all the time, prompting Lione to say to himself, "Forever Alone," causing laughs. Even though it was a bit hypocritical. He received loads of love letters, but he'd turn them down, saying he only had room for his family, trio of friends, Da Brigade, and the Goddess he knew.

Squall also got one of his wishes.

Lione went from minion to his best friend. Despite the fact he always called him bossman, Squall eventually got him to not follow every order blindly and have his own mind for once. It had taken a while, but the effort paid off.

Even when Subspace and the Primids attacked, they held fast.

Then it came.

Come. Was all the letter said. It was from his father.

"This isn't something a father would write!" Roy roared with rage, "This is something trying to piss me off! _**AND IT'S** **WORKING!"**_

"Squall... you don't have to go to Smashville..." Samantha said.**  
**

"Yeah... you can stay here..." Heather wrapped herself onto Squall's free arm as the other twitched, holding the card.

"Squall... you can't seriously be thinking about..." Mackenzie gasped.

"Bossman... as much as I'd love you to stay... if you're going... I support that. I've seen the Subspace attacks... they need help..."

Squall could've stayed. He knew that. He'd love to.

He could stay in a town that hailed him as a hero, a town where he had a brigade that listened to every one of his becks and calls, a town where he had a loyal friend who always stood with him, a town where he had people he loved, a town where, when they were alone, Heather had once knelt and kissed his feet as if it cleansed her, despite his protests.

But there was something he had to do.

"I'm sorry. I'm going. I need to settle things with that bastard of a father. Nine years, and not even a call. He can't be that busy."

They were silent.

"If that's the case Squall... don't forget us." Mackenzie whispered, "None of us."

"I'll be fighting for all of you!" Squall smiled, "You'll all be in my heart!"

_And so the choice is made..._

_Duty over love... _Emile sighed, _I would've done the same._

_Your emotions are not being suppressed... and I will stand by it. _Sydney nodded.

_Moar stompinz! _Luke roared.

_Yeah! We'll make a new brigade!_ Clyde cheered.

"Hey Squall, when you get there, punch that bastard in the face for me, will ya?" Roy laughed.

"Yeah..." Squall smiled, "I promise I'll be back one day, alive and sure as hell kicking!"

And so began the legend's tale as a new day rose upon the world.

* * *

"My king," a Primid fell to one knee in front of a multicolored door.

**"What is it?"**

"We have... located the true gate's opening. We may restart our attempted conquest of Smashville."

**"Send scouts. We know not how the world of light has changed since we last forayed into it. We must also check if it is the true Subspace, not the mere imitation fields of the bombs, where I can once again fashion a maze made up of the inferior Subspace fields."**

"Of course, my liege. I will have our Fifth Metal Division-"

**"No. Send one. Observe what happens** **and who attacks."**

"But, they'll utterly destroy-"

**"Remember the prophecy. We must remember if the one who shall return has already done so."**

"How will we know it is him?"

**"It was long ago I was told, and my memory is still a bit fuzzy. I know not how you will know it is him... which is why you must simply observe."**

"Of course, my king."

**"Very well. Go do as I have said."**

* * *

**_You have been given one year..._  
**

**_Go forth..._**

**_And let your heart be your guide..._**

**_And do not falter from its guidance..._**

**_To infinity we fly on._**

* * *

_The hell is this?_ Squall thought as he walked through the mostly silent halls of the train station, having gotten off at the Smashville stop. _It's the middle of the day, why the hell is no one out?_

"Are you getting a creepy feeling from this?" his newest friend/acquiantance, who he had just met on the train, named Minaka Amagi, asked. As far as he knew, she was a Pollyanna- _WARP DAMNIT, I'M SPEAKING TROPESE AGAIN! _he swore mentally.

"Deserted train station in the middle of the day? Uh, yeah. It's fucking creepy." he adjusted his walking stick. Not that he actually HAD any disabilities. It was mainly for self defense... but everyone would laugh at that. Not that it bothered Squall.

He looked around with his mechanical eyeball, which served as a memento for a... certain incident, along with the necklace of a small circle with angel wings and a Core Drill necklace serving the same purpose, noticing how every line had been disabled.

Luckily for them, the doors hadn't been locked, not that it would've mattered to Squall, he would've beaten them down or broken the glass.

"Good, you didn't have to commit vandalism," Minaka rolled her eyes as they stepped into the sunlight, while Squall slid the walking stick over his back and checked the strap wasn't too tight, "Why would you do that anyway?"

_'Cauz wez lovez da stompin! _Luke yelled. Squall rolled his eyes.

_Hey, what did we say about stomping? It's piercing for crying out loud, and you left out MANLY! _Clyde yelled.

_Ugh, guys, SHUT UP for five minutes. Geez, dead city situation, need to focus! _Squall screamed inwardly.

_As you wish. _Clyde bowed.

_Whoteva. _Luke grunted.

"Anyway," Squall replied to Minaka's query, "Just call me Chaotic Good."

"What the hell does that-"

**BOOM!**

"Sweet fucking shitez!" Squall yelled, "What was that?"

"There!" Minaka pointed, past the electronic billboards full of Smasher advertisements, "Fighter planes!"

"What are they aiming... holy shit." Squall turned his head to see a giant, metallic abomination that was in a familiar humanoid shape, "Primid!"

"What? They called us during an attack?!" she followed Squall's pointed finger, "No! There's no way-"

**_SHCK-KABOOM!_**

The metal primid that was taller than most of the skyscrapers swatted two of three planes out of the air.

"GET DOWN!" Squall yelled, diving and taking Minaka with him. The wreckage barely missed them, and if he had moved a second sooner they'd have been nothing but squashed and burnt flesh.

"Over here!" the duo looked up as a sleek, silver car rode up to them, "Oh heeeeeeey! Iiiiiiii'm Melody! I'm picking you guys up!"

Squall took a moment to check the photo he had been sent before nodding, "Minaka, take passenger."

"Got it!" she slammed the door.

"Wheeeee!" Melody sang as she floored the pedal, Squall tried to remain calm while Minaka screamed.

"Hey, is that a construction site?" Squall asked as he looked in front of the window.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeup!" she smiled, "We're going to the roofs."

"..." Squall momentarily thought of the consequences but then didn't want to picture himself being pancaked.

"Nooooo! We'll die!" Minaka shouted.

"Nooope! I won't let you guys die!" Melody cheered, "I gotta get you guys baaaa~aaack!"

_I should've stayed home. _Squall grumbled.

* * *

"What the fuck?" Squall screamed as Melody drifted on another metal beam, sending them flying off, only to land on another slanted metal beam, continuing the ride.

"Charlotte's going to give us a little distraction." Melody said as she closed her comm unit.

"What do you mean by- HOLY CRAP GIANT ROBOT!" Squall yelled as he looked out the back window.

"Yeah, I think that'll do the Primid in." Minaka shrugged.

"Alright, let's get baaaa~aaack!" Melody sang as she floored the petal, sending them flying as she went up a makeshift ramp.

* * *

Squall looked up at the place they were entering, with a sign that read: =Anderson Co. Smashville Defense Headquaters= (_Couldn't they have at least tried to hide it? _He thought), it became apparent something major was going on, much more than random attacks on the city. Then again, his father was working here. If his father was anything like Gendo Ikari, Squall swore he would-

"Melody! Melody!" a boy in a black ninja outfit along with chestnut brown hair yelled, interrupting Squall's thinking, "Oh crap! I hope she didn't drive _too _badly!" Squall blinked, realizing his face must've been twisted in such as way.

"If you mean I didn't puke out all my internal organs, yes. I only managed to cough up ninety-nine percent of them." Squall deadpanned.

"Squall! That was mean!" Minaka punched Squall arm.

"Meh," he shrugged, "You are...?"

_Is he... what you have called a ninja? _Emile asked, seemingly a bit confused.

_Yeah... don't say anything. _Squall inwardly nodded.

"I'm Zach Ferrel, a ninja-"

"Believe it!" the two boys yelled at the same time.

"Alright! Finally, someone who knows that!" he turned to Minaka, "And this beauty is- OW!"

"Stop hitting on her," Melody said with a smirk, "Or _you know whaaa~aaat_."

"Eep! Okay!" Zach bowed as Squall snickered.

"I'm Minaka Amagi, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Minaka held out a hand.

"My dear, the pleasure is all- D'OH!" Squall couldn't help but roll his eyes as Melody hit him again.

"Anyway guys, we need to get to the launch bays!" Zach told them, "Let's go!"

"Launch bays?" Squall tilted his head.

"Trust me." Zach nodded, "But seriously, we have to hurry!"

* * *

"Holy shiat." Squall's jaw dropped. The robot reminded his of Lazengann from _Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann,_ except with a stereotypical Sparatan style helmet and single horn that protruded out of its forehead. He also noted it had two swords on its back.

In short? This thing was meant to tear shit UP. In Squall's opinion anyway._  
_

"Hello, Squall." a figure called from the catwalk above.

"Dad." Squall looked at the man who was his biological father, dressed in what he thought was a tux but upon further examination (thanks to his robotic eye), saw it was a blazer. The fact he was dressed like Adachi from _Persona 4 _pissed him off, but at least he had on some glasses and his hair was a dirty blonde color. However, this confused Squall on how he managed to have dark blue hair when his mom had black hair. Recessive genes, perhaps? At least he didn't look like Gendo Ikari _too _much.

"Do you know why we have called you here?"

"Uh, of course not!" Squall lied, "Actually, comme here for a bit. I want to tell you something."

"Very well then." he pushed a few buttons.

"Wow, damn, you sure as hell got lazy, after all, you're using one of those crane things to get down here."

"It's easier than stairs." he walked up to Squall, sizing his son up, "So, _OOF!"_

Squall punched his dad twice, and then kneed him in the crotch.

"First punch was 'cause Uncle Roy wanted me to hit you. Second, was for abandoning me. Kneeing you was simply 'cause I'm in a not so good mood. You may return to your not so ominous spot up there."

"Tch!" he grunted, "Your mother will be disappointed."

"Whatever." Squall rolled his eyes.

"Squall." a female voice called. The source of the voice was a long, black haired woman dressed in a grey blouse and long black skirt with a white labcoat, which stepped out next to Squall's father.

"Oh, wassup, mom?" he grinned, "So, why did ya two call me back here? Oh wait, I already know, but it's nice to know exactly what my orders are."

"So quick and to the point," she smiled, "Well, as much as I would hate to put you in danger... you have been brought here as you have been deemed fit for the SMASHER Program, a defense program that keeps Smashville safe from the returning Subspace..."

"Uh, sure." he shrugged.

"If you would get inside that mecha, then we'll send you on your first assignment."

_Huh, he's being pretty straightfoward... _"And that assignment would be?"

"To fight that Primid out there. In that giant robot."

"So..." Squall put his hand on his chin, "Oh right, I suppose that's right. Oh well, cool."

"Wow. I thought he wouldn't have complied." Squall's dad mumbled.

Then parts of the ceiling came down, along with a small quake.

"SHIT! It's found us!" Zach hissed.

"Hey, isn't there another one?" Squall asked.

"How did you know?" his mother, Karen wondered.

"There's another shaft here." he pointed, "That girl, Charlotte... is she still out there?"

"Charlotte is, er, was out there. She's coming in right now."

"Move! Move!" some of the paramedics yelled. Squall watched the camera screens. A young teenager, obviously a girl with flowing light green hair in a conservative light brown skirt, a teal green turtleneck, and a school jacket which Squall recognized as the Smash High uniform jacket. She was hooked up to various medical equipment along with a blood stain going along her ribs.

_Damn... _he grimaced, _it did that to her? I know what I have to do._

"Open the hatch. Or whatever the fuck the entrance is." Squall snarled, "I'm making sure that thing isn't going to hurt her anymore than it already has."

"Y-you're going to do it?" Karen nearly cried. Her own son was going to fight that thing?

"Open the damn hatch." Squall deadpanned.

"R-really?" his father, Aran, stammered.

"Yeah, yeah," Squall said coldly, getting in, "Someone tell me how the fuck to operate this thing."

-_You're going to put into a small sphere thing. It'll have a gravity field that'll make it so you don't get to hurt if you get thrown around.-__  
_

"Wait, what?"

_-There's a simulation that'll be loaded in so it looks like you're actually out there fighting the thing, scaled down so it seems like a VR Simulation video game.-_

"Oh. Okay. That's nice."

_-That's why the gravity field is there, because you're essentially in a giant hamster ball. So if you fall over in the simulation, then you actually fall over here. Gravity field makes it so you won't get too hurt. Also, it loads buildings, so you can see if you might cause some collateral damage.-_

"Thanks... uh... who is this?"

_~My name is Clare Anderson. My father works for your father and I'm usually either the secondary operations director or monitor for the Unit L1. I'm also in your year of high school, so come back. Your mother has said a lot of nice things about you, and I'd like to see if they're true.~ _Clare felt herself blush, _~Wait! Don't take it the wrong way though!~_

"Don't worry, I understand." Squall laughed, "Hey wait, is that a jetpack fuel bar? So, maybe if I think about it-" Squall immediately regretted pushing the holographic thinking about jetpacking, "Hoooooooooooooooly shit!"

The L1 was shot up through the elevator tube, and Squall found himself facing the giant metal Primid. They stood at the same height now, and Squall stared it right in the eyes.

"EAT THIS!" he roared, lunging forward with his fist.

And so the battle began.

It didn't last long.

* * *

**Mission Control**

"Ma'am! We aren't getting any sort of neural feedback from the scanners!" Clare shouted, "Wait! Decreased heart rate, pilot going unconscious!"

"My God... did we just send an young man to his death...?" Zach mumbled, shifting uneasily.

"Wait... is that music?" Karen asked.

* * *

Somewhere, on that battlefield, Squall opened his eyes to find himself in the burning hunk of metal.

And closed them again, tiredness overtaking him. _Will it end like this? _He thought before blacking out.

When he awoke, he found himself in a fog shrouded area.

"The hell...?"

"Commander."

"Emile? Where are the others?"

"They are still here in your mind. This place is merely a fragment... Ah, here they are."

The figures of the heroes of his mind appeared before him.

"We are all part of you," Sydney said, "And I believe you know what we are."

"The psychological term is persona. Exempting you, Sydney, as you are my anima."

"Very good, but I am still a face you show every now and then... Now, this way."

The group parted to reveal a blue door that opened by itself, and the old man's voice that Squall recognized as Igor's called out, "Now is the time! Awaken to the power within!"

* * *

Then guitar began to play from the speakers as his MP3 player suddenly shot into full volume and began blaring into the comm microphone.

_Paper bags and plastic heats_

_Our belongings in shopping carts_

_It's goodbye!_

_But we got one more night!_

From the command room, they watched as a blur erupted out of the mecha, and sped towards the towering Primid.

_Let's get drunk and ride around_

_And make peace with an empty town_

_We can make it right!_

The cameras focused on the blur, which turned out to be Squall, twirling his walking stick at crazy speeeds.

_Throw it away!_

Squall leapt around, bouncing to different parts of the Primid and smacking it, making small dents on its body.

_Forget yesterday!_

_We'll make the great escape!_

_We won't hear a word_

_They say!_

_They don't know us anyway!_

The Primid tried in vain to swat at the pest that was irritating it, but Squall simply was too fast for him.

_Watch it burn!_

_Let it die!_

_'Cause we are finally free..._

_Tonight!_

Leaping back, adding several backflips before sliding across the street on his two feet, smirking, he stared at the Primid right in the eyes.

_Tonight will change our lives..._

_It's so good to be by your side_

_And we'll cry..._

_We won't give up the fight!_

Squall kept the Primid's fists which were reaching out to him with his walking stick, somehow being able to keep the giant at bay.

_**LET'S SEEYA GRIT THOSE TEETH!** _Clyde roared as Squall clenched and gritted his teeth.

_We'll scream at the top of our lungs!_

_And they'll think it's just 'cause we're young!_

Squall let out a war cry that sounded to the command room a lot like, **"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"**, before shoving the Primid back.

_And we'll feel so alive!_

"Is that a tarot card in his hand?" Melody asked, observing the screens.

"Do you think..." Clare mumbled as Minaka smirked.

_Throw it away!_

_**"PERSONA!"**  
_

_Forget yesterday!_

A knight in white, glowing armor appeared from the blue flames that surrounded Squall as he crushed the card.

_We'll make the great escape!_

Suddenly, the knight shattered, as a graceful, seeming calm man in white with blonde unkempt hair flew over the Primid on his hang glider, dropping a small ball of white...

_We won't hear a word_

_They say!_

And the small ball...

Asploded the Primid.

_They don't know us anyway!_

The hanglider man shattered, returning as the shards came back together as the knight. The Primid fell, dissolving into metallic Shadow Bugs... which reformed into an army of smaller metal ones.

_Watch it burn!_

_Let it die!_

_'Cause we are finally free..._

_Tonight!_

Squall brushed the hair out of his eyes as he turned towards the Primid army.

_All of the wasted time.._.

_The hours that were left behind_

_The answers that we'll never find..._

_They don't mean a thing_

_TONIGHT!_

Squall lifted his walking stick into a combat stance and slowly walked towards the Primids...

_Throw it away..._

_Forget yesterday..._

_We'll make the great escape..._

_We won't hear a word..._

_They say..._

_They don't know us anyway..._

Dashing towards the army and twirling his walking sick, Squall laughed as he held out his free hand, with a spinning blue tarot card on it.

_Throw it away!_

_**"Persona!"**_

_We'll make the great escape!_

Cutting through the masses along with his Persona who wielded a battleaxe, the particles that made up Primids could be seen leaking everywhere.

_We won't hear a word_

_They say!_

_They don't know us anyway..._

_Watch it burn..._

_Let it die..._

_'Cause we are finally free..._

_Tonight..._

As the song ends, Squall was seen, standing triumphantly on the pile of Primid bodies.

Right before he collapsed.

* * *

"W-where... where am I..."

"Ah! You're awake!" Melody's voice rang in Squall's ear.

"Ugh... I feel like shit." he grunted.

"Hey Squall, I didn't know you had a Persona! I totally recognized that tarot card! I've seen that before somewhere..." Minaka beamed.

"Neither did I..." _I guess this is what that old man Igor was talking about on the train when I fell asleep... the next time I see him... _"So... city saved?"

"Yeah..." Zach looked away, "I'm sorry for asking... but could you stay... with the Smash Program... they help defend the city from those attacks and stuff..."

"I made a oath back home. I'm not going back until I've saved this city. I'm staying." Squall said firmly, _Well, that settles it._

* * *

"What do you think of your son so far?" Clare's father, Marcus, asked.

"He's faring well. He's not doing this for us though. He's doing it for 'home'." Aran sighed.

"And home would be?"

"The town he was raised in," he shook his head, "He made some friends there and may or may not have gotten some sort of multiple personality syndrome, as he was often reported talking to some voices in his head at times."

"Ha!" Marcus chuckled.

"It seems your daughter has also taken an interest into him."

That shut Marcus up, "Oh quiet. I think he's probably already got a girl back home."

"Yo, pops. Back for another beating?" Squall asked as he stretched, coming out of his room.

"Squall." Aran glared while Marcus tried not to laugh.

"Whatever. So, I guess I'll be off finding an apartment to stay in." Squall rolled his eyes.

"You will not have to do that," Marcus said, "Your father and I have already taken that into account and provided a room for you."

"Will I be sharing?" Squall raised an eyebrow as he took the key.

"Minaka Amagi, the other girl will be with you-"

"Okay, who's sick idea of a joke is this?" Squall snarled, "Really? Because I swear dad, if you're doing this to screw with me-"

"Hmph," Aran sighed, "And here I thought my son was straight."

"I AM STRAIGHT, damnit!" Squall yelled, "Geez, I see a total play at my supposed heterosexuality, but that's a new low. I guess so, since I'm feeling lazy today after taking out a giant fucking metal statue that came to life or whatever Primids are and am therefore, in no mood for apartment searching. Whee." Squall rolled his eyes, "Actually, if we have _robots, _why are we sending footsoldiers against Primids that size?"

"You haven't read your mother's work?" Aran asked, "Well, it's simple. After several studies, it was found out that you, Minaka Amagi, Zach Ferrel, Clare Anderson, and... Melody-"

"No last name?"

"She was... adopted, I suppose. She is your adopted sister."

"And that sinks that ship." Squall deadpanned, causing Marcus to snigger behind Aran's back, and Squall shot him a subtle 'You too?' look, getting a 'Yes.' look in return, "Anyways, carry on."

"Well, you have all been found out to have a high enough SmashFactor, which is something all the Smashers when they fought against Subspace had. If one's SmashFactor is high enough, they are unkillable by Subspace. What will happen if you would have been killed by an attack by something originating from anything of a Subspace-nature is that you would be turned into a dull trophy. What can happen is that Shadow Bugs can copy you, but if you're left alone too long, the dullness of the trophy will fade, and after a while the dullness will be replaced with a bright shine... permanently ending you. **(Just to clarify: If you look at the animations when characters are trophied, many trophies have a dull sheen to them. Well, this is how I figured a character would 'die' in trophy form)**."

"...Harsh." Squall breathed out, "Well, I'll make sure not to die. Or become some Primid's trophy. Now, I suppose I'll see you all later." Squall turned tail and began walking down the hall, making sure to have his eye start mapping out the place he'd come to know as the HQ of saving the world, "And so it begins."

* * *

**Alright! First chapter done!**

**So, I decided to give my main character a BACKSTORY and past for once! Gasp! Right?**

**Yeah, I didn't like last rewrite's Squall with his whole "Revenge!" thing. Plus he was a little too cynical and cold if you asked me. I wanted to write a character that really would be, well, realistic in sense of mind. So I gave him happiness (along with a few abnormalities here and there), and sent him to go fight. Now, it's not going to be like NGEvangelion, since this fic is more idealistic if you ask me.**

**Anyway, idea of SmashFactor: It came from me just thinking about it. I was wondering, 'Hey, why do all the trophies always appear so dark even when they're in the light in cutscenes?'. Then, I started thinking: Real trophies are shiny and stuff. So, over time, the dullness of the trophies vanishes and then they become a real trophy. Of course, they're not actually experiencing it, since being trophied is more like going comatose, I suppose.**

**Oh, and I actually planned out this story rather than just writing whatever came to mind. Another audible gasp! Actual planning from me? Holy crap!**

**Well, see you next chapter!**


	2. The Fool's First Step

**Chapter Two of The Return, GO!**

**Alright, here's where my actual planning comes into effect… Since I have ACTUALLY planned out the social links in this story! WHOOOHOOO!**

**Once again, I do not own anything but original content I this. Which happens to be most of it :D Yaaaaay.**

**Anyways, here we gooooooo!**

* * *

Squall walked into the hospital, which wasn't that far away from the headquarters, carrying a bundle of sunflowers (which were Charlotte's favorite, as he asked around before going to the hospital), playing the music out of his crimson music player rather softly to hear those around him.

"Excuse me, miss?" he asked the receptionist, "I'm here to see Charlotte… Er, I'm not sure about her last name. I just arrived in today and would like to thank her for piloting-"

"Ah, room 205. Second floor, take the elevator and it'll be on your left." she winked at Squall, who didn't really notice.

"Oh, thank you!" he smiled, going off towards the elevator. It didn't take long to find the room, and when he arrived, Clare, Zach, Melody, and Minaka were already there with Charlotte.

"Well, I gotta go!" Melody said after putting away her phone, jumping into the vents, "Karen's calling me again. Aw, and I wanted to hang out with the new guys too!"

"Maybe later, Melody." Clare shrugged.

"Oh, hello Squall." Minaka waved.

"So this is Squall?" Charlotte asked, "You're the one who defeated the Primid?"

"Uh, yeah." Squall smiled sheepishly, "I, er… did a little bit of asking and found out you like sunflowers, and well… since you give flowers to people in the hospital, I thought I'd get you some."

"Ever the gentleman." Zach chuckled, "Who'd you ask?"

"Mom," Squall answered as he put the flowers in a vase, "She seems to know a lot about all you guys."

"She does seem like a team mom," Clare shrugged, "She's always harping on us if we've been dating, grades, whatnot. It's nice, since my mom died during the initial Subspace attack, having someone to play that role."

"At least now we have fresh meat- Oof!" Zach grunted as Clare elbowed him, "What? It's true!"

"Well, we're the only teens working for this place, right?" Squall asked, getting nods in return, "Then I say we should form a Brigade! It'll be like back home, at least."

"You've got a Brigade back home?" Minaka asked, "Not like a mob or something, right?"

"Nah, we just helped set delinquents and bullies straight. If we could, we'd convert them and have them start doing good things. Good feels good, I suppose." Squall replied, "So, how about it… hm, we called ourselves the Tensei Brigade back home… what to call us?"

"Wait, the Tensei Brigade?" Charlotte asked, "You were known as the Reincarnation Brigade?"

"It was fitting, I suppose."

"I guess it works," Charlotte shrugged, "Why not guys?"

"Alright! Oh, I know!" Minaka beamed, "We'll be the SOS Brigade! The Saviors of Smashville Brigade!"

"That's clever, Minaka." Clare grinned, "Why not?"

"So, it's official then. The teens the begin to work for saving Smashville will be made a part of the SOS Brigade upon joining!" Zach pumped his fist into the air, "Awright! Well, I'll have to get Melody on this later, I suppose."

_**CRACK!**_

_Huh? _Squall blinked as the world seemed to freeze and go grey, _What the hell is going on?!_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Fool Arcana…**_

_Creepy voices? Hey, guys, did you hear that too?_

_Hear what?_ Syndey asked.

_Are you talking about your friends? _Clyde tilted his head, or at least that's what Squall imagined him doing.

_Didshint ere noding. _Luke stated.

_Not a sound, I'm afraid. _Emile answered.

_Um… okay. I guess that's the Persona stuff and bonds Igor told me about. _Squall mused to himself, _Well, I guess this starts all those Social Links and whatnot!_

"Squall, are you okay?" Squall shook his head as Minaka shook him by grabbing his shoulders and flailing him about.

"Ah! Yeah, sorry, something just caught my eye outside the window, but it's gone." Squall quickly lied, "Well, I think I should go check on the apartment now."

"Oh, right! Do you know the way there?" Charlotte asked, "I remember I got lost when I first came here."

"I'll find my way, I suppose. Besides, there aren't any bad parts of the city, right?"

"I think only if you go to the red light district at night. At least, that's what I've heard." Zach answered, adding the last part as Clare shot him a suspicious look.

"Well, I think I'll know if I'm there. I'm sure traffic will be absolutely terrible." Squall got up and started walking, not seeing the bewildered and confused faces of the rest of the SOS Brigade.

"S-squall…" Minaka stammered, "Uh…"

"Minaka, why _else _would they call it the 'Red Light District'?" Squall rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I'll try to find the apartment."

"Oh, I'll go with you!" Minaka said, following Squall.

As the two left, the remaining trio still had their jaws on the ground.

"H-he's not serious, is he?!" Zach asked as if the world was ending around him.

"I-I think he is." Charlotte commented meekly.

"Zach." Clare said venomously, "If you corrupt Squall I swear-"

"I won't! I won't!" he said, waving his hands in front of him to keep Clare back, "Don't worry about me!"

"Good." she said, "Come on, we should make sure they reach their apartment safely. Will you be fine here, Charlotte?"

"I will. Also, I didn't get to thank Squall for the flowers. Could you thank him for me?" she blushed slightly, prompting Zach to raise his eyebrows at her, causing her to blush even more.

"Alright, will do." Clare quickly got up and started dragging Zach with her, "Come on, let's go."

* * *

**(Apartment)**

"Wow, it's already so furnished!" Minaka gushed. Squall noted that it looked like it was specifically made for two people living in it at once.

"And the fridge is well stocked with ingredients for cooking," Squall reached into his pockets for a notepad and held back a curse when he realized he didn't have one on him so he could start taking inventory which would let him figure out what to start cooking. After all, he loved efficiency.

"So, did your things arrive yet?" Clare asked, knocking on the open door.

"Ah, I should check that." Squall peeked into one of the other rooms, "Hm, yes. They're here. Thanks for reminded me about that, Clare." He found his boxes that were all labeled with numbers, and Squall took out a folded up piece of paper that listed which items were in which boxes. While he'd have to set up his internet and electronics later, it couldn't hurt to put away the small things like clothing in the closet.

Zach and Clare were a huge help to him and Minaka, and most of their things were unpacked rather quickly, with the group being finished by evening, with Squall demonstrating his cooking skills in the process. After dinner, they decided to have a friendly chat to get to know eachother.

"So, do you two live together?" Squall asked offhandedly as he took a swig from his water bottle, "Oh, and thank goodness for separate rooms!"

"Oh, yeah. We do live together like you guys." Zach shrugged, "Though I'd be willing to switch rooms with you, Squall! Clare's pretty uptight about the whole 'guys and girls living together'."

"Wouldn't it make more sense that you switch places with Minaka then?" Squall questioned, getting a look of admiration from Clare which he didn't notice, "Plus, if we both disagree about the idea, why would it be a good idea to put us together?"

"Ehehehe!" Minaka burst out giggling, "Squall, you don't understand!"

"Understand _what _exactly?" he sighed, irritated, "Here is the situation-"

"Damnit Squall, Zach is trying to matchmake you with Clare!" she yelled out, "I uh… oops?"

Squall dropped his water bottle (luckily it was closed), while Clare just ended up blushing madly.

"Ha! Guess someone's not so above all the whole dating thing!" Zach pointed an accusational at Clare, who glared at him.

"S-shut up! It's merely the fact that Minaka has blatantly stated that out loud-"

"Clare," Squall said calmly, even though his real eye was twitching, "You don't have to use complicated words and whatnot. I like to sound professional at times, but when you're with friends, it's fine just to let go and not really care."

_I guess what his mom said about him being a caring person is true_… She mused, "Very well then, ahem!" she cleared her throat, "Zach, please _shut the hell up._"

"Whoooooa! Geez Clare, never heard you-"

"Zach, that's quite enough. I'm sure it wasn't too comfortable for Clare to say that," Squall closed his eyes and smiled, "So we can let her off for now. Maybe she'll get better with this as time goes on."

Zach chuckled, "Wow Squall, you're a real stand up guy. You got a girlfriend back home?" he noticed Clare twitch slightly, and glanced at Minaka who smirked.

"I don't," Squall shrugged, "But I've got Lione, Mackenzie, and Heather all waiting for me to finish up here so I can head home. Before you ask, Mackenzie and Heather are _just friends._"

"Aww, you're no fun Squall." Minaka playfully punched him on the arm.

"Well, considering the fact you two are now trying to find some sort of opening to tease me with, I'm making sure not to say anything that you could attack me with," Squall had a shit eating grin on his face that he was trying to show off because he knew it would annoy Zach and Minaka, "By the way… did you notice the-"

"Yes Squall we see that shit-eating grin on your face." Minaka growled, "You're just adding insult to injury, huh?"

"Muhahaha!" he laughed, "Anyways, about Charlotte… No, Zach, not that way," Squall glared at the boy before he could say anything, "Why did my parents make her pilot that damned robot? I mean, they probably designed it so it would be safe to pilot, but she doesn't look like the combative type. Hell, she should be Mission Control."

"I understand your concern, Squall, but she was selected because she herself came up with the most advanced operating system for piloting mechas, which was first implemented in that robot." Clare said regretfully.

"I'm going to talk to my parents about this… Oh crap, there's school tomorrow!" Squall gasped, "Crap, I'm heading to bed."

"Ah, I didn't notice the time either!" Clare popped out of her seat, "Come on, Zach, let's go back. Besides, you wouldn't want to be late for school _again._ You remember what happened last time, _don't you?_"

"Uh… what happened-" Minaka started.

"Oh, yeah, let's go!" Zach ran out of the living room where they were sitting and ran back to his room.

"Ah, here." Clare handed Squall a small piece of paper, "If you need to contact us, our cell phone numbers are there."

"Thanks." Minaka smiled, "Well, goodnight!"

"Er… goodnight then." Squall shrugged, "Man I am too lazy to change…" Yawning in front of his bed, he allowed tiredness to overcome him and fell asleep.

* * *

When Squall awoke, he looked at his watch. 6:00 AM, with it being March 5th.

_Shit, I woke up thirteen minutes later than usual. Well, crap. Oh well, I'll have to cut my shower short._

Dashing through his morning routine, Squall cursed the fact he wasn't able to clean his hair as well as he normally did. He put on a dress shirt (with an undershirt) and black dress pants, then grabbed his trenchcoat off the hook. Not forgetting his crimson music player and clip-ons, he left the comfort of his room.

"Wait…" Squall paused, talking to himself, "When the hell does school start?" Taking out his phone and dialing Clare, he waited a little bit before she actually picked up.

"Squall, what could you possibly need at 6:23 in the morning?" she asked, rather tired and annoyed.

"Er… when does school start?"

"Seven fifty. Are you already up?" Shuffling of cloth could be heard. _Must be the blankets_, Squall thought.

"Sorry… School normally started seven in the morning back home," Squall sighed, "Once again, sorry for bothering you."

"It's no problem… In fact my alarm goes off in seven minutes." she stated offhandedly.

"Well, why don't you come over to our room? If I've got time, I can cook breakfast for all of us. I'm thinking bacon and eggs. How do you want yours?"

"…Fried, over easy."

"Your wish is my command. Don't forget to wake Zach and bring him." Squall reminded her, "Well, see you in a bit." Ending the call, Squall plugged in his earphones and started blaring _The Great Escape, _which had become his favorite ever since he came to the city.

_Thank goodness they pre-stock this fridge, _Squall smiled, taking out the bacon and eggs, _Hm, maybe I should make some pancakes. Hey wait, is that rice in there? __**YES, **__I have not had rice in so damn long! Where is the damn microwave?_

Since bacon and eggs aren't very hard to make, also since Squall had experience with fried eggs that were over easy because they were his favorite, due to the fact he liked poking the yolk area and letting it flood ALL OVER THE FOOD, WIPING AWAY EVERY LAST BIT OF OTHER FOOD!

"Eherm!" Squall coughed, nearly dropping the rice container, "Shit, nearly dropped that-"

"Squall? Are you already awake? It's _ssoooooo _early!" Minaka's voice rang out.

Putting the rice in the microwave and pressing a few buttons, Squall left the kitchen for a little bit. Sighing as he found Minaka scantily dressed in nothing but a white bra and short shorts (Squall didn't want to think about whether or not she was wearing anything underneath), he took off his trenchcoat and threw it at her, covering most of her, "Put some damn clothes on."

"Aww, you're no fun Squall." she complained.

"Are you always like this?" he asked, irritated.

"I can't help it if I like flirting with you! Besides, you act so cold to it at times! How are you going to get a girlfriend then?"

"I don't intend to have one," Squall shrugged, "Not for a while, anyways."

"You know, you're not like most high school boys." Minaka put on Squall's trenchcoat, "Most of them like the flirting."

"Well, there aren't a lot of people who wouldn't mind someone they find attractive flirting with them." Squall shrugged, flipping over some bacon strips.

"Are you saying I'm attractive, Squall?" she fluttered her eyebrows.

"You're not ugly," he went for the neutral response, knowing how this could go, "But why do you do it? Seriously, it's like you consider flirting your job or something? Aren't you afraid someone will call you a slut because of an assumption based on what people say about you?"

Minaka winced, "You know, most people don't say that so upfront."

"I'm just saying that it's a way your actions could be interpreted," he shrugged again, "I don't think of you that way, but I'd advise you don't act that way at school today, people can be pretty cruel. And sometimes the truth can hurt."

"I… never really thought of it that way…"

_**CRACK!**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou… **_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Sun Arcana…**_

_Another bond… _Squall smiled, "Well, hurry up and get showered and dressed, Clare and Zach will be over in a few minutes for breakfast."

"And who did you invite over first?" she asked suspiciously.

"Zach." Squall lied, but noticing Minaka didn't believe it, he answered truthfully, "Fine, Clare. But I only called her first to ask when school started because I woke up _extremely _early for you guys. Now shut up and go take a shower."

"Aww," she pouted, "Fine! I'll be waiting for the perfect opportunity to tease you!"

"…Thanks for the heads up." Squall rolled his eyes, getting back to cooking.

A little while later Minaka came dressed in a grey blouse and black skirt and her hair in a ponytail, "How do I look?"

"Like a proper lady," Squall said dryly.

"That's it? Then again that's a lot coming from you." Minaka handed his coat back just as the doorbell rang, "Alright, I'll get it. Hey Clare, hey Zach!"

"Good morning, Minaka." Clare nodded, stepping into the entrance room, "Wow, it smells amazing here!"

"Damn, Squall cooks?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how good though- WHOA!" Minaka gasped as Squall came out with a huge plate of bacon, fried and scrambled eggs, rice, and pancakes, "Squall, isn't that a bit much?"

"No kill like overkill," he smiled, "Alright, eat up, because I don't feel like looking for plastic containers to store all of this stuff in."

Clare decided to keep silent on how she asked Squall for fried eggs, but still blushed when Squall winked as he handed her a plate with fried eggs on it. However, she managed to hide it rather well, avoiding the teasing from Zach and Minaka. They ate breakfast in silence, watching the news for a while

"So Squall, anyone ask you to make breakfast?" Minaka winked at him.

"Nope. Decided why the hell not just make breakfast." he shrugged, "What would make you ask such a question?"

"Damnit Squall you told me you called Clare early in the morning-" Minaka yelled.

"-To ask when school started." Squall said calmly, "Didn't I already tell you why I am not seeking a girlfriend?"

"Uh… I don't think so." Zach said, "Don't say you play for the other team!" he jumped back away from Squall.

"No, I don't. I'll tell you about it on the way to school. For now, let's clean up."

It took five minutes for all the dishes to be put away in the dishwasher. Squall slung his wooden walking stick across his back then grabbed his fedora just before they left, which made Minaka wonder how exactly his whole outfit managed to all work out. His sense of style was different, to say the least.

Near the apartment complex (which Squall then found out the four of them were living next to each other, with Charlotte across the hall), there was a train station that would take them near the school.

On said train, in the VIP section, even though Squall had protested against it saying that even if he fought to protect the city once it didn't merit VIP treatment, leaving Zach to wonder just what kind of morals Squall had.

There was a small table that they sat at, where they began asking Squall questions.

"So, you said you'd tell us why you aren't looking for a girlfriend…" Minaka started.

"Ah, of course. Well, it involves this music player that I received before I left for the place I call home. A young girl and I, though unfortunately I do not recall her name, exchanged gifts which happened to be music players. Before I left, we made a promise that originally started out as a simple 'Meet together, somewhere', but she changed it to a childhood marriage promise. And so, I keep that promise, even to this day. The only time I'll go looking for a girlfriend is if I find she does not wish to keep said promise, and as heartbreaking as that may be, I will respect her wishes or if she does want to keep it, I will pursue her then." Squall said sincerely, "Though that has not stopped the teasing, unfortunately."

Clare blinked twice, trying to swallow the fact that Squall was actually _trying _to keep this promise in spite of the fact there was little to no chance of him ever meeting this girl again.

Minaka couldn't help but gush mentally at how romantic it was… and how crazy Squall was.

Zach was stunned that someone could be so loyal to someone _they couldn't even remember._

"So yeah." Squall shrugged, "That's my story. Feel free to tell me I'm lying, that I'm crazy, that I'm stupid, or anything. I've heard it all before."

"That was… THE MOST ROMANTIC THING I HAVE EVER HEARD!" Minaka shouted, grabbing Squall's shoulders and shaking him violently, "PLEASE TELL ME IT'S TRUE AND YOU'RE NOT MAKING IT UP!"

"I, ow, can, ow, assure you it is true, ow. Minaka, stop shaking me." Squall sighed as Minaka let go, "Thank you."

"Er, that was… one heck of a story." Zach let out a low whistle, "How can you be so loyal to her though?"

"There's a phrase that goes 'Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it'. Do you think I would've made that promise to her if I knew I wouldn't keep it and go off with some other girl?" Squall asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Amazing," Clare mumbled, "To care for someone so much."

"Eh, it's what I do. It's nice just to see others happy, even at the cost of my happiness." Squall smiled, "Because if someone else smiles because of me, I smile as well. Well, here's our stop."

* * *

**SmashHigh**

"Hoooooly crap!" Minaka gasped at the sights. It looked so modern and yet classical at the same time.

"Hm…" Squall was busy studying a map that Clare had passed him, "Now, if we're here at Entrance C, then the office isn't too far away. Minaka, we should get going and grab our schedules."

"Awwww, but I wanna look at how pretty the school is!" she pouted, starting to give Squall the 'Puppy Eyes' treatment.

"Not gonna work." he chuckled, "You'll have to do better than that. Let's go."

He began walking off by himself, mentally following the map as Minaka chased after him.

"COME BACK HERE! THAT WORKS ON EVERYONE! WHAT Are you some crazy heartless…" her voice faded off as Squall broke into a jog.

"You think he'll be alright?" Zach asked Clare.

"He survived a massive pounding from that Primid, then got up and killed it. Minaka's not really going to be a threat to Squall's survival."

"Wonder if he'll survive fangirls," Zach laughed as the two walked to homeroom, "He's got the 'Mr. Nice Mysterious Transfer Student Guy' going for him. Maybe he's one of those guys that smiles all the time but is really hiding something behind it! Man, he's fangirl bait incarnate."

"Well, having heard from him about… you know, I doubt he'll be tempted in any way."

"What makes you say that?" Zach raised an eyebrow as they climbed the stairs.

"He's been keeping that promise for nine years. Judging by his confident tone when he was telling us about it, he's nowhere near the breaking point for deciding to break it." Clare told him, "He's certainly an odd one though…"

Squall looked over his schedule and then took a glance at Minaka's.

"Hm, we've both got Ms. Katsugari for homeroom." Squall mumbled, "So, let's get going… Minaka?

He looked around to see her running off…

…In the opposite direction of where their room was.

"I'll race you there! Winner buys lunch!"

"Minaka… it's-"

"I'm not falling for it!"

Facepalming, Squall began his climb up the stairs, "Hm, what else do I have here? I've got Science first, English, then Physical Education- What an oxymoron! Great, I'm snarking to myself. Lunch, then Criminal Studies, Math and then instead of regular Social Studies I'm taking Advanced Psychology. Great schedule if I do say so myself!"

He sighed when he realized he was talking to himself again.

_You seem to be having a habit of that when not accompanied by your friends. _Sydney remarked.

_He's just trying to remind himself that he can rely on himself to get by! _Clyde yelled.

_It's a common way to deal with loneliness. _Emile shrugged.

They only got garbled screams from Luke, which none understood.

_Heh, don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, I've got you guys, what more could I need?_

_Hello._

_**AH WHAT THE HELL?! **_Every voice (including Luke in a brief moment of being able to be understood) yelled.

_I'm sorry, my name is Fortuna… I am one of Squall's Personae. Or, the only one at the moment._

Squall looked up as the white knight from before appeared in front of him, _Er… can others see you?_

"They can't." Fortuna said, his voice not echoing as he wasn't mentally communicating with Squall, "Only you can see me. I'll accompany you, my liege, as such you are not lonely."

"T-thank you?" Squall answered, half confused, "But uh, I won't be able to converse openly since that will attract some unwanted attention."

"I see… then I shall cherish the time I can spend talking to my liege."

"Er, also don't call me that."

_Yeah, Squall's got a bit of a problem with honorifics. _Sydney explained.

_Though it is right that he acknowledges you as his commander, _Emile added.

"Very well… what shall I call you?"

"Just call me Squall, which is my real name." Squall laughed inwardly, "Anyways, all of you quiet, I'm about to go into homeroom."

Squall opened the door to find the class already there, with the exception of Minaka.

"I'm one of the new transfers." Squall stated, "Is this er, Miss Katsugari's room?"

"Thaaaaat's me!" Squall blinked at the sight of his teacher. _Surely I have the wrong room… Or the school hired the wrong person. _His teacher was a purple haired woman who wore a rather tight fitting dress (Squall mentally placed bets with his male voices to see who could keep their eyes off her rather ample chest that was emphasized through the tightness the longest. Squall won, and Clyde was the first to go.) and a red sweater as well, "And you are-"

"Sorry I'm late, sorry I'm late!" Minaka shouted.

"Whoa! She's cute!" this and many other variations were uttered out loud as Minaka stepped into the classroom.

"Wh-Hey! Squall, you're here too!" she tackle-hugged him, "OhmygoshIneverhthoughtwe'dbeinthesameclass!"

"Damn, she's already claimed by the other transfer student?!" many a voice asked.

"Minaka. Get off of me." Squall said in a monotone from the floor, "You are not only giving everyone the wrong idea, but you are also stirring up-"

"Yadda yadda," Minaka waved a hand off as Squall got up, "Sorry I'm late. I got lost."

"It's no problem! Now, why don't you introduce yourselves?"

"Alright, I'm Minaka Amagi! Nice to meet you all, and I hope we have a good rest of the year together!" she winked while pointing a finger gun out, "Let's have fun together!"

Clyde said something perverted about how the pervious statement had many meanings, but those comments were replaced by screams as Sydney managed to pull an axe out from somewhere and begin chasing him. Emile just sighed in the tone that said: When will he ever learn?

Squall on the other hand just let out a, "Ba-zing, Minaka. Did you have to Spirit Gun everyone?"

"Spirit Gun? What are you talking about?" she asked, genuinely lost.

"Ah, forget it. I guess you never watched Yu Yu Haksuho," Squall shrugged, "Anyways, I am Squall Fortuna. We didn't have these class introductions back in the NE where I'm from, so I guess I can take questions."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" one asked.

Squall would've said 'yes' as he considered himself 'engaged', but since technically his 'fiancé' wasn't here or known for that matter, he simply replied, "No, I don't."

It was only too late that he realized what he had just done, which was pretty much giving the green light to have all the girls chase him.

_Where is my Harem Anime Universal Genre Savvy Guide? I need to brush up on that… _Squall ignored the squeals of the girls as he took his seat, and as a small blessing to the fact he was now cursed with the most horrifying curse known to man known as fangirls, he at least sat next to Clare (which mean he was next to the window) who could keep them in check. Minaka sat next to Zach who was already chatting it up with her, much to the dismay of many guys in the room.

Squall looked out the window and focused on the reflection it had. He noticed Clare's slight and subtle but ever so small glare not directed at Zach for talking, but at Minaka. A small smile crossed his lips as he realized what this meant.

"Fascinating… such socialness," Fortuna smiled as he took off his helmet. Beneath it was a more… bishonen version of Squall. **(Note that if Fortuna doesn't talk with italics it means only Squall can hear him)**

_Holy shit. _Clyde's jaw hit the ground (causing a 3.5 earthquake in Squall's mind due to the speed his jaw dropped).

_What are you- Okay, something is wrong. VERY WRONG. _Emile and Sydney agreed.

For once Luke remained silent.

_So… apparently a part of me is an honorable bishonen knight?_

_Well, you are a rather kind hearted person with many a woman after your heart, _Fortuna explained with his mental link to Squall, _And well, even with your semi-delinquent looks you still show off some feminine traits at times._

_Such as? _Squall pondered when he had shown any feminine traits.

_The time you actually put a flower in your ha-_

_OKAY SHUT UP NOW._

Squall sighed inwardly as all the other voices in his head began to snicker. Even Emile, the one who would never betray his commander.

_And then-_

_NO! NO MORE!_

_Very well then, Squall. _Fortuna bowed.

_Hey Fortuna, what type of flower? I'm interested in what taste our commander has. _Emile said while unsuccessfully holding back snickers.

_Blue rose. Squall has a penchant for blue flo- Shutting up now._

If looks could kill, and since Personae are a facet of the soul, part of Squall's soul would've been vaporized in a heartbeat.

"Squall, are you there?"

"Bzzzt! Whoa, sorry, I zoned out." Squall shook his head rapidly, "Uh, yes Clare?"

"I was checking if you were alright," she said, "You had a rather spaced out look in your eyes… it's time for first period. Luckily homeroom and first period are the same class, and there's a small break inbetween them. That reminds me, you need to get your locker…" she fished around in her inner jacket pocket to pull out a piece of paper, giving it to Squall, "That has your locker number and combination. When you're done, shr-"

"Burn it, got it." Squall eyed the paper mischievously, "Ah, it's been _way _too long since I burned something."

"Burning? Did someone say burning?"

"Oh, hey Melody." Squall looked up to the source of the voice… which was from a air vent, "Whatcha doing in the air vents and can I have in?"

"Just poking around for fun." she slid out of the air vents, landed on Squall's desk then bounced off and had a perfect landing on the floor. Her firey red hair and yellow-orange eyes complimented the mass amount of energy Squall felt radiating from her.

"Do they just let you do whatever you want?" Squall raised an eyebrow. He noticed Zach giving him a look that said, 'Do not ask.', "On second thought, never mind."

"Mmmmkay!" Melody winked, "Well, back into the air ducts!"

"Have fun." Squall waved goodbye as Melody climbed back into the vents. Turning to Zach, he said in a completely sincere voice, "She seems like a nice girl. Ditzy and energetic, but nice."

"Wait… didn't she drive you guys to HQ?" he asked.

"Oh. Well, she was just doing her job really." Squall shrugged, "I guess back then I was in a bad mood for being cramped on a train for a few hours."

"Do you manage to find the bright side in everything?" Clare asked.

"Well, it works for me!" Minaka answered with a smile.

"I just help who I can, smile when I can, and try to help others smile," Squall said, "Finding the bright side of things just becomes second habit. Besides, with all this Subspace stuff going on, a little bit of light never hurt anyone."

_There's something odd about him_, Clare mused_, On the battlefield he's a determinator who fights to the very end. Here, out of combat he acts like a pacifist… Perhaps he sees violence as a last resort?_

_Sometime scares me about Squall… nah, it's just that I've never met a guy like him before_, Zach grinned, _Seriously though, loyal and chaste? Man, he's just… wow, for this day and age._

"Wait Squall, have you set up your school chat account? It's used for helping out other students in class if they're going to ask their friends about a subject. However, some don't use it that way." Zach started whistling as Clare glanced at him.

"Oh, no I haven't. I guess that's what the computers on the desks are for." Squall smiled sheepishly, "Well, it looks simple enough. Hm, desired online name, student name, and password. Mkay," Squall did some quick typing, "Well, there we go! Thanks for reminding me, Clare."

"It's no problem," For some reason she felt a small sensation of heat on her cheeks, "I'm just looking out for others."

_**CRACK!**_

_**Thou art I… And I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Empress Arcana…**_

_Empress? Ah crap, I'll have to check out a book on Tarot later. _Squall mentally noted, "Ah, Miss Katsugari is back. We should take our seats."

"Right Clare- Oh sorry about that Squall, it's usually Clare who tells me that." Zach laughed as he sat down, "Oh, and on chat I am ShiNinja. Combined Shinigami and Ninja for it."

* * *

Clare noticed that Squall was typing a LOT for first period.

Generally there was a slight pause in between mass typing sprees, which were silent and swift, not adding to the silence of the classroom as Miss Katsugari taught.

"Hm… How to explain…" Clare heard Squall mumble to himself, "Ah, I got it!"

She took a peek at his screen and found it was a discussion between Squall and most of the class. Squall had been summing up the lesson in a paragraph or so and also was taking questions about the lesson. Clare couldn't decided whether to smile at how he was helping out others or groan at how Miss Katsugari had been hired as a teacher but wasn't exactly competent.

Taking a second look at the screen she noticed that the only male in the chat was Zach.

Another point of Ms. Katsugari she found irritating was how she distracted many of the boys in class with her… outfit. And she was not jealous of her figure at all. Nope, not one bit.

She was glad that Squall hadn't fallen to their teacher's rather flirtatious method of teaching, He just responded with a polite tone that answered her question while strictly avoiding any use for language that could be misinterpreted at all.

To her, Squall was someone who was a caring person… someone who could teach her to care for others better than her. She knew she cared for others, but Squall was on a whole new level.

She entered the chat room just to observe, and turned on the 'Invisible' status, so Squall couldn't see her.

A question came up: Are you the pilot of that robot we saw?

Clare noticed Squall had stopped typing. She hypothesized that he was contemplating on lying or telling the truth.

Squall flinched a bit as a private message came up.

_ClareAnderson: I'm sure you know who this is Squall. I'm not telling you what to do, but just think of the consequences of what you'll tell the class._

Another message came up for Clare.

_ShadowOfInfinity: Thank you for the concern. Don't worry, I have this under control._

_ShadowOfInfinity: (Public) No, I am not the pilot of that robot._

Several messages of disbelief flooded his screen.

_ShadowOfInfinity: I WAS the pilot. I got it blown up and then killed it on foot._

Squeals filled the classroom along with yelling about how Squall had piloted the robot. Clare laughed inwardly as she realized he was being completely honest. Yes, it was unfortunate that the L1 Unit was destroyed, but fortunately Squall had a different way of dealing with Primids.

_Ah, that reminds me I need to take him and Minaka to HQ after school. _Clare thought as the chaos around her died down due to Squall politely asking them to save questions for later.

Meanwhile, one certain boy in the back of the class was _not happy._

* * *

The rest of the day passed without much quarrel as Squall managed to slip away from people wanting to question him since his status of being a fighter against Subspace had already spread through the whole school, and class had been dismissed.

"Ken," Zach pleaded with his friend, "I _really _don't think it's a good idea to fight Squall!"

"That prick got my sister hurt!" he growled, "I'm gonna pay him back. And there he is!"

Squall was walking while listening to his music, humming to _The Great Escape, _when he felt an angry aura from behind. He stepped to the left and turned around, seeing Zach and a boy that he didn't recognize that was dressed in the school uniform but had a grey Inverness Cape to match his pitch black hair and brown eyes.

"Oh… hey Squall…" Zach said awkwardly.

"Hello Zach," Squall took out his clip-ons, "Er, what does your friend want with me?"

"I'm gonna beat you the hell up! Your stupid robot fight got my sister hurt!" Ken threw several punches at Squall, who was knocked down onto the ground. He merely got up and dusted himself off.

"…" Squall held back the urge to fight back. These were punches thrown for family, and Squall would not deny him the right to avenge his family, "Is that all?"

"Like hell it is!"

Zach looked away as Squall was beaten up by Ken. However, he didn't notice that Squall was slightly deflecting the blows simply so he wasn't critically injured.

"There. Done. I'll be back tomorrow."

"…Just one thing." Squall got up with the help of his walking stick, "When you're walking home, think about whether or not this actually changes anything. Will the fact you have beaten me up change your sister's status?"

"Fuck off." Ken flipped him the third before storming off.

"Er… uh, wait up!"

_You needn't have taken that beating, _Sydney's voice told him.

_I thought I've explained it was for family… He should have the right to avenge her today. Tomorrow he'll have to earn that hit, _Squall smiled wryly, lying down on a bench and looking up at the bright sky. He decided to listen to some music for a few more minutes.

"Squall, where are you?" Clare rounded the corner a few songs later, "Oh my God, what happened to you?!"

"Took beating from a guy named Ken," he chuckled, "Was doing it for his sister. Didn't defend myself because of that. A punch thrown for family… I shouldn't block or dodge it. Honor before reason at times, I suppose."

"Geez…" she looked over him, "I don't see any bruises… but since you're injured we can't do what he had planned for today…"

"What, giving Zach ideas?" Squall laughed as Clare's face turned red, "I'm not that oblivious. Sometimes it's just an act, because being out of character at times is a great way to get rid of boredom."

"No, we were supposed to go into our Subspace Exploration things today. But you have to go back and heal these injuries… I'll help you up."

"No… Can you just walk me back to make sure I don't collapse along the way? Besides, I have to endure this… and in enduring, one grows strong." Squall grinned as he got up from the bench, "Well, let's get going."

* * *

"ZACH I'M GOING TO _KILL _YOU, AND KILL YOU, AND **KILL YOU!**" Clare shrieked as she drew two gunblades and chased the ninja boy.

"Heh, never knew she used gunblades. You'd like my friend Lione, he uses a double handed one," Squall stated calmly as if this was a normal occurrence.

"YOU JUST _LET _HIM GET BEATEN UP?! HOW COULD YOU?!"

"H-hey! Ken's not a good person to stand in the way of when he's angry!" Zach defended himself, "I mean- Hey watch where you're swinging those!"

"Not only do you just let him get beaten up, you don't try to stop him after Squall got up and just offered himself up!" Clare finally cornered Zach and held both blades at his neck.

"Eep!" he squealed in fear.

"Clare, you can just leave him be." Squall called over to her, "Besides, this was strictly between Ken and I. Zach had no part in this conflict, so please leave him out of it."

"…Fine, but only because _you _said so." Clare growled, "But don't let it happen again."

"Well, since I'm stuck on this couch, Zach can sleep in my room. Minaka can stay with you for tonight Clare, since I don't want you killing Zach in his sleep," Squall let out another laugh, "Well, it's really early but I'll just head to sleep now…"

* * *

**And another chapter done!**

**Geez this one just wrote itself!**

**So yeah, Fool, Sun, and Empress got in this chapter!**

**Explanations of the links:**

**Fool: SOS Brigade (Catch the reference?), Striking out on a new path and beginnings. Staple for any Persona game :D**

**Sun: Minaka Amagi, Generally a person who sees the bright side in things, is enlightened to the not-so-bright parts of things. While she isn't going to become damper and all that, Squall is merely letting her see an alternate side of things. Squall is a person who sees the bright side in everything, but he sees both sides though, unlike Minaka who is generally free and loose.**

**Empress: Clare Anderson, Empress generally refers to the motherly side of things. While she indeed cares for others, she seeks to have the same sort of care that Squall has for others, and hopes by sticking with him she will come to know how he does it.**

**Anyways, see you guys… next chapter!**


	3. Delving Into SubSpace

**Ah it's good to be back! Anyways, I was like a fourth through the chapter when the file got corrupted, unfortunately. But I'm back!**

**Well, I don't own the SSB franchise and stuff. I just own my characters and my plot.**

* * *

It had been a few days since Ken's attack on Squall, who was now up and running again, the only thing holding him from one hundred percent a-okay state was a slight leg soreness that made him limp, since Ken had kicked his leg a few times.

"Are you sure you should be going to school again?" Charlotte asked as she walked next to Squall, in her own bandages and whatnot.

"Yeah. I should be concerned for you though. How is it you get injured from fighting in the robot?" he replied while using his walking stick to assist him.

"The operating system I developed for it… it lets me synchronize with the robot so it does what I think it should do, but in return, I develop injuries with it."

"…Like an Evangelion?" he tilted his head.

"I suppose so." she shrugged.

"Wow, you must be pretty smart," he smiled as he opened the door for Charlotte, "Well, I gotta head to homeroom."

"Mine's on the other side of the school, so I'll see you later."

"Have a good day, Charlotte." Squall waved as he limped away.

* * *

School went normally for the entire day, which Squall was glad for. Minaka, Zach, and Clare were very helpful to him, and Squall had denied Melody permission to go after Ken in revenge for him.

"Squall, come on." Clare said after class, "Your father would like you to see something."

"Alright then." he got up, "Let's go."

Clare opened her phone and dialed a number, "Zach, you got Minaka?"

"Yeah," the voice came through on the phone, "Meet you at the front entrance."

"Got it." Clare closed her phone, "Let's go."

* * *

"So, what are we going to do?" Squall asked as a limo came to pick them up.

"You know that SubSpace Exploration I mentioned?" Clare got a nod in return, "Well, we're going to show you the basics."

"Trust me, it's pretty fun. Oh, and we got your weapon ready for you, since a walking stick isn't going to be too effective against Primids." Zach added.

"That's a shame." Squall sighed, "It did quite well the other time."

"I'm still not sure how that worked, with you bashing the snot out of that Prmid."

"But you can't deny that it was AWESOME!" Minaka cheered, "I mean, Squall was all like, dashing everywhere and twirling his walking stick and all that!"

"Fighting isn't always like that," Clare chided her, "It can be quite bloody at times."

"Well, let's get going now, shall we?" Zach gave the signal to go to the base.

* * *

"Best. Day. Ever." Squall smiled with enthusiasm as he held his new double bladed sword. It was if someone had taken his walking stick and attached blades on the ends of it, making it a Darth Maul style blade, "And the weight is just perfect!"

"You like it? I'm pretty good at weapon making," Marcus chuckled as Squall practiced fighting with it, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Let's just say my walking stick plus watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace plus a LOT of free time."

"…You watched a movie and tried to mimic it?"

"Yeah, there were a _lot _of bruises and icepacks involved." Squall laughed, "Also, thank you for the weapon."

"No problem. Also, Clare wanted to know if you're fine fighting even with that limp of yours. Doc's saying you should be fine soon, but she's still concerned."

"I'm fine. She is a real worrywart at times, no offense to your daughter."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say she likes you in that way."

"Nope," Squall smirked, "If anything, she likes Zach."

"How do you figure that?" Marcus asked as they left the room.

"I just see that special bond between them… how long have they known each other?"

"Childhood friends."

"I see… Oh, hello there Clare."

"Hi Squall. I take it your weapon is fine?"

"Yeah, your dad is _amazing _with weapon making. So, are we actually going to fight something?"

"Yes… Let's head over to the Exploration Room."

_Funny, Exploration Room can be shortened to ER. And you know what ER also means? Emergency Room. _Clyde snarked, only to be hit by Sydney.

_There is no reason to make Squall panic! _she snarled.

_Do not worry Commander. I am sure you will succeed in your exploration. _Emile's calming voice let Squall relax, _You have no reason to fear. Your new friends will assist you. I am sure of it._

_Just usah moar dakka! _Luke screamed.

_My ear! Geez, that was rather loud. But thank you for the support. Fortuna, you there?_

_Sorry Squall, I'm just a bit nervous. Our first foray into SubSpace… who knows what is down there?_

_Hey, we've got our pals to help us! Nothing to be worried of!_

_Right! Of course! _Fortuna suddenly perked up, _Let us do battle with these creatures of darkness!_

"Here we are." Clare stopped Squall as they entered the room.

It was bland and filled with wiring everywhere, all connecting to a large circular door on the floor. Gears began to whir and slowly the door opened up, revealing a Subspace Portal.

"We keep this in the basement?!" Minaka shrieked.

"Well, are we going in or not?" Zach asked.

"Unfortunately I will not go in with you, as I will be providing support. Good luck to you guys!" Clare told the group.

"Aw, and I wanted to see you use your gun blades. Oh well… GERONIMO!" Squall yelled as he dived straight in.

"I see someone's enthusiastic." Zach smiled as he jumped in.

"U-uh, here goes!" Minaka closed her eyes as she went in.

* * *

"Tch!" Squall grunted as he landed on a cold floor, "What the hell? Why does this look like the school lobby? AHA! I knew school was evil!"

"Nope," Zach landed next to him, "I remember your mother told us that Subspace is something like 'The Power of Memories' or something. So, it apparently does something to this pocket and so here we are. We've only been to the fourth floor down so far."

"So it isn't just a never ending maze?" Minaka asked as she not so elegantly picked herself up after crashing on the ground.

"Yeah. Oh, here you guys go." Zach tossed two small things, one at Squall and the other at Minaka.

"Earpieces?" Squall arched an eyebrow, "We can communicate through the portal."

"Convenient, huh?" Zach smiled, "Well, put them on."

It was a natural fit to Squall as he always had his earphones on. He felt around and found a small part that jutted out, "Hey is this the part that allows for communication back to base?"

"_Correct Squall."_

"Oh hey Clare."

"Aaah!" Minaka shrieked, "Sorry, she scared me there."

"_Today you'll just be getting a feel for combat here." _Clare explained, _"Now Zach, I'll leave it to you to tell them all of this."_

"Roger that. Anyways, there's Primids lurking in these halls, stairs that lead further down, red doors that go into other rooms, and lastly some glass looking boxes that have treasure and supplies in them. Got it?"

"Kill enemies, look for stairs, explore red door rooms, and break glass. Gotcha." Squall gave a thumbs up, "Well, only one way to go."

The group looked down the hallway, seeing it go on for a while.

"_Squall, do you read me?"_

"Clare?"

"_I'm uploading a file to you. It is a program for your robotic eye that allows for a map of the floor you're on. It auto updates as you go along, mapping where you've been along with stairs and all those other things."_

"Thanks. Ready for transmission."

"_Uploading… done."_

"Running executable file… Hey, who designed this file?"

"_Charlotte. Why did you ask?"_

"Give her my thanks… and when I get back I'll say thanks again." Squall readied his weapon, "Let's go!"

"Here we go." Zach readied his two combat knives, "Let's wipe these guys on the floor."

"R-right!" Minaka drew her short sword.

However, no one else but Squall managed to get a kill as he ran forward, slashed one Primid with one side of the blade, spun around, stabbed another one, then twirled the blade around and impaled the last one, "Wow, this blade makes it so easy!"

"Damn…" Zach looked on as the bodies of the Primids dissolved into Shadow Bugs, "Hey, they dropped something. Catch!"

"Hm?" Minaka barely caught the object, "Hey, it looks like some sort of magic restoring item."

"How do you figure that out?" Zach raised an eyebrow.

"It's blue, for one." Squall got a raised eyebrow from both of them, "What? Red heals health and blue heals magic in most RPGs."

"I was just going to say it glows… but Squall's explanation sounds better." Minaka shrugged, "I guess you can hold on to it."

"Um… okay?" he pocketed it, "Note to self, get a bag for all of this stuff."

"Hm, that would be a good idea." Zach mused, "But hey, leave some for us."

"Alright… here's that chance!" Squall pointed as five Primids came from around the corner, "Let's go!"

_Call thy strength of heart!_

Blue fire surrounded Squall as he crushed the blue Tarot card, "Persona!"

"Whoa!" Zach said as he dodged a Primid's attack and countered, "Geez, giant axe to crush them with? What else you got?"

Squall's real eye glowed for a split second as he felt Fortuna learn a new power.

"Fortuna!" Squall crushed the card again, and this time the knight had the axe on his back, but his hands were glowing green. Another second later a small ball of wind burst from them as he clasped his hands together, which threw the Primid against the wall.

"Geez," Minaka blocked another strike, "Can I get some help?"

"Fortuna, Garu!" Another wind ball threw the Primid, "Minaka, you're going to actually have to kill on one of these things sooner or later."

"I'm sorry…" she looked down at the ground, "It's just that-"

"Get down!" Squall tackled her, barely avoiding a fireball, "Damn son of a bitch, who threw that at her?!"

"There!" Zach pointed as he ducked underneath a fireball, "Fire Primids?!"

"Leave it to me! Persona!" Fortuna bashed one of the Primids, but got hit by a fireball in the back, "Fuck, sympathetic injuries!" Squall quickly dismissed his Persona as he fell to the ground, "Zach, you have a way to deal with these guys?"

"Clare's analyzed them before. They're weak to ice, but other than that, it's hard to get in close."

"So, how do we deal with these guys then?"

"_Squall, could you try using your wind attack?"_

"Um, sure Clare." Squall crushed the tarot card, "Fortuna!"

The windball hit the ground next to one of the Primids, sending it flying towards the group. However, it was stunned and was unable to get up.

"So they're weak to wind too?" Zach raised an eyebrow.

"How can you tell?" Minaka asked.

"When they're hit by something they're weak to, they end up like that. Helpless on the ground. Also goes for us as well, which is why traveling here alone is dangerous. But once you do that, you can just whack them and the fly like a projectile."

"Alright then." Squall ran up and kicked the fallen Primid will all of his strength. Watching it hurtle towards the other foes, he couldn't help but scream, "GGOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!"

The other Primids were bashed into the walls and ceilings as the spiraling Primid knocked them around.

"Finish them off!" Zach cried out, dashing forward and delivering a quick slice to each one, "Yeah, that's the way we do it!"

"T-take this!" Minaka cut through the torso of one the remaining Primids, "W-whoa! I actually did it!"

Squall zoned out as the last Primid stopped moving, as three cards appeared in front of him. One was a blue cup, the second was a green leaf, and the last one was a small fairy.

_I think that fairy might be another Persona…_

The cards shuffled themselves, and when they stopped, Squall nabbed the one with the fairy as he had been watching.

_Gotcha!_

"Um… Squall?" Minaka snapped her fingers in his eyes.

"Hold on… Change!" Fortuna vanished to be replaced by a small pixie, "Anyone need healing?"

* * *

"Wow, that's so cool," Minaka breathed deeply after being healed.

"Change!" Squall spun the card in his hand, changing the design from Lovers to Fool, "Though I don't know how fast I can change them."

"Well, that's great. Usually we have to turn back because of our wounds, but if you can heal them, that's great."

"I don't think I can do it forever though," Squall rubbed his head, "What does this magic run on anyways?"

_Spiritual energy._

_The hell do you mean by that, Fortuna?_

_The energy of your soul is what allows you to do these feats. Has Igor told you about how Personae are a facet of your soul and their powers would therefore expend energy from it?_

_Uh, how do you know who Igor is?_

_I'm part of you._

_Oh, right._

"Squall, SQUALL?!" Squall shook himself awake, "Sorry about that. Yeah, let's keep going."

"_Squall, watch out, I'm sensing something powerful approaching!"_

"Does anyone hear chains rattling?" Zach tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah, I think that's a good sign to _get the fuck out of here." _Squall hissed as he ran down the hallways, "Come on!"

_Please tell me it isn't what I think it is, _Squall pleaded in his head as he turned the corner, "Hey guys, I see what looks like a golden door!"

"Yeah! That's the way out of this hellhole!" Zach screamed.

"Go, go!" Squall motioned for them to go ahead, "I'll try to keep it back."

"What?!" Minaka screamed in shock, "But-"

"I can blow it back. Trust me." Squall put a hand on her shoulder, "Just have a little faith."

"O-okay, but you better come back alive!" she warned before running with Zach.

_Is it wise to face an unknown opponent so soon? _Emile questioned his commander.

_Better my friends get out first. Besides, I stand the most chance. _Squall let the Tarot card spin in his hand before bursting from around the corner, "FORTUNA!"

"Hyaaaagh!" Fortuna unleashed his ball of wind, knocking the target back an inch.

"Oh crap," Squall gasped at the enemy.

His enemy was a large humanoid figure with torn black clothes that largely resembled a cloack, a bandaged face that left but a single yellow glowing eye, and chains that hung off its shoulders likee oversized necklaces.

Oh, did he mention the two revolvers it had that were the size of sniper rifles?

Squall didn't have to think twice about running.

Of course, it's not like anyone expected him to run _at _this monstrosity.

"Mine mine mine mine!" Squall gleefully sang as he dashed at deathly figure.

"_Squall! I'm reading… a signature of death?! What?!"_

"Yeah, I'm currently going to steal one of its weapons," Squall jumped and bounced off the wall, threw another Garu at what he would dub 'The Reaper', then latched onto one of its guns. However, the Reaper shook him off, sending him sliding down the hallway all over the floor.

_Maybe a direct attack wasn't so good?_

_MOAR DAKKA BOSS! _Luke yelled.

"Fortuna, how fast can I cast Garu, and how many more times can I cast it?" Squall asked Fortuna vanished.

_As fast as you can summon the card, and you've got five more casts._

"Good enough." Squall ran straight at the Reaper again, "Let's go, go, go!"

Three quick crushes, and a rather large gust of wind buffeted the Reaper but sent Squall flying as he jumped, and with the increased speed because of the wind, grabbed one of the Reaper's guns and began running.

_Damn, this thing is heavy! _he grumbled as he heaved it onto his shoulders and dashed for the exit. _Shit! _he barely avoided a bullet heading for his leg by jumping into the air.

"Really close now…" Squall grumbled.

"_Squall! Come on! You're close to the exit!"_

"HYAAAAAAAGH!" Squall roared, summoning all of his strength for the last sprint to the golden door. It opened just as would've crashed into it, and he leapt into the shining white light the burst forth from it.

As it closed behind him and vanished, the Reaper stood still.

If its bandages were removed, you would see it struggling to keep a smile from changing its upset face.

* * *

"Ack!" Squall grunted as he landed, "Where the hell did I end up?"

"Subspace is kind of weird like that. It always warps us out into this room, but always somewhere random in it." Clare shrugged.

"Like the time I got stuck in the ceiling."

"That was not fun getting you out."

"Okay…" Squall got up, "But look at why I got from Mister Death Signature." He pointed at the oversized revolver.

"What?!" Minaka shrieked, "I thought you stayed behind because you were going to be heroic and brave-"

"Yeah… I just wanted to see what was chasing us." he said sheepishly.

_You were nearly killed for it though, _Sydney chided.

_Oh let him have some fun! Besides, IT WAS AWESOME! _Clyde argued.

_At least we know what we were up against. _Emile mused.

_BWAHAHAHA NOWZ WE GOTZ A HUGE GUN! MORE DAKKA! _Luke celebrated the seizure of the Reaper's huge gun.

If Squall had been paying more attention to Luke, he would be hearing on his (mangled) plan to get more and make a robot out of them.

But he wasn't, so Squall missed out on an awesome but completely impractical and time consuming plan. Oh well.

"You crazy…" Zach shook his head and sighed, "So, how was facing that thing?"

"Oh man it was exhilarating!"

"Ugh, you two!" Minaka growled, "Squall nearly dies and you talk so casually about it?!"

"Hey, I went in there realizing I could die at any moment," Squall shrugged, "So since I didn't, I think I have some bragging rights. And I saw it in a movie."

"Boys will be boys," Clare patted Minaka on the back as the two went to go get their wounds checked and all the other things.

"Oh, before I forget," Squall fished the magical blue drink out of his pocket, "We found this. I think it's some sort of magical energy restoring item. If you could analyze it…"

"I'll get Charlotte on it." she nodded before leaving, "Oh, and Zach said something about you having multiple… Personae, was it?"

"Yeah. I've got a healing one." Squall did his new hand _swoosh _technique_, _where he'd drag his hand that was slightly curled from right to left, almost as if the Tarot card was a very small revolving door and Squall was spinning it. It changed from Fool to Lovers, and then Squall crushed it. Like before, the small pixie/fairy thing flew around, and just before Squall dismissed it, it blew a kiss, "But it runs off spiritual energy so I'm not an endless fountain of spells."

"I see. Well, perhaps with training you'll learn to be more efficient with casting?"

"I hope so." Squall tipped an imaginary hat, "See you later Clare."

"You too Squall. And about your leg-"

"FUCK! IT HURTS! Damn, the adrenaline must've let me ignore it but- shit!" he groveled in pain as he fell over, "Okay, about my leg?"

"I was just about to warn you about that." she turned her gaze to Zach, "If you would?"

"Got it Clare." he nodded, "I'll see you back at the apartments."

* * *

As Zach helped Squall limp over to the medical bay, he asked, "So, you and Clare?"

"What do you mean?" Squall asked.

"Well, I've seen the way she looks at you."

"Yeah, well it's not like that," Squall tried to shrug, "Why, are you concerned I'll steal her from you?"

Zach nearly dropped Squall, "W-what?! No way man!"

"Hey, I'm just saying when I see how you look at her-" he stopped as Zach stopped.

"Please don't go on. I know she wouldn't like someone like me."

"Zach…" Squall hopped on one leg towards the wall, "Look, she might have an opinion of you now, but you know what I love about people?"

"What?"

"People change."

"So?"

"You can change."

"Huh?"

"You obviously like her," he silenced Zach with a glare, "You told me not to go on, but I don't really care. Anyways, if you don't like how she sees you, _change. _Grow up, maturate. Get past that male that only thinks with his reproductive organs and actually with his head."

"I uh… _reproductive organs?_"

"Fun With Censorship," Squall chuckled, "I'm just saying though. Sure, you can be kind of a pervert, but I think she tolerates you a little more than others. You show her that you can grow up and are then able to resist, then maybe she'll return the feelings," Squall avoided saying 'more of the feelings', since it would no doubt cause more confusion if he said that.

"I… uh…" Zach scratched the back of his head, "I guess…"

_**SMASH**_

_Is it just me or are the sound effects inconsistent? _Squall thought as the familiar voices spoke.

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Death Arcana…**_

_Death Arcana? AGH, remember to find book on Tarot! _Squall mentally slapped himself, _How do I keep on forgetting?!_

"Squall? You there?"

"Agh, sorry. I've been zoning out quite a bit, huh?"

"Maybe you need some more rest. I'll tell Clare."

"No, it's f-"

"Squall, do I need to get Minaka?"

"Fine…" Squall sighed. If he told Minaka, there'd be no end to it. She cared a lot for those she liked, and if it meant they'd get better, she'd pester them to no end.

"Wow, so I guess someone's wrapped around someone's finger, hu- OW!" Zach hit the ground and looked up to see a smirking Squall who was slinging his walking stick back on, "I guess someone can walk themselves to the… oh, never mind!" he quickly changed his mind as Squall reached for the walking stick, "This never happened."

"Deal."

* * *

Two days later, after sleeping in the medical wing, Squall finally got the rest he needed, since it was discovered he was busy all night long setting up networks (particularly because he could set up a secured network and didn't exactly want his network activity to be tracked by his parents). His mom at least respected her son's wishes and forbade anyone to tamper with the electronics, since she could safely assume her son wasn't actively looking for porn during the night.

"Phew… I feel _so_ much better." Squall greeted the morning with a grin.

"Squall? Are you in there?" his dad asked through the door.

"What is it?" Squall asked as he walked to the sink and washed his face.

"Are you decent? There's someone I'd like for you to meet."

"Yeah, of course. I've been sleeping in this for two days. That reminds me I should wash it…" he mused to himself as his dad opened the door and walked in, followed by a small girl that was about six with long dark brown hair that went down to her waist and was wearing a light pink dress, "Ah who is this?"

"Go on, say hello."

The girl still hid behind Aran's leg, "Hello…"

Squall walked over to her and knelt down, "Hello. I'm Squall Fortuna. You are…"

"N-nagisa… Fortuna… I'm your younger sister…"

"You didn't tell me about this?" Squall arched an eyebrow at his dad, "Ah, it's no matter. So Nagisa, do you know about knights?"

"Y-yep! They're strong guys who save the girl from the bad guys and are loyal to their king!" her mood suddenly changed, much to Squall's delight.

"What if I told you I could summon a knight?" Squall watched Nagisa's eyes widen in surprise and glee.

"Oh! Oh! I want to see him!" she cheered, forgetting her shyness.

"Alright then… Hold on," Squall looked up at his dad, "So you're actually trying to bring us together as family? After all this time, huh?"

"Yes… I have business to attend to. I will see you later." Aran gave a nod as he left.

_**Crack!**_

_Yep, totally inconsistent._

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personae of the Hierophant Arcana…**_

_Cool. _Squall grinned, "So Nagisa, do you want to meet him?"

"Yes!"

"Alright then…" Squall stood up and the spinning Tarot card appeared in his hand, "Come forth, Fortuna!" Crushing the card, the shining white knight appeared next to him.

"Wooooow…" Nagisa looked up at him, "A real knight!"

Fortuna knelt down to one knee, "Your Highness."

"S-squall… why is he calling me that?" Nagisa stammered.

"Well, you said knight's are loyal to their king. So he's my knight, I'm the king, which makes you a princess because you're family." Squall explained with a smile as he sat down, "So he's addressing you as such…"

A watch beeped.

"Oh, I have to go. Mommy wants me to go shopping with her," Nagisa looked sad, "Bye bye Sir Fortuna!"

Fortuna stood and bowed before vanishing back into Squall's psyche as she left.

_Well, that was fun. _Fortuna said in a happy tone.

_Such innocence… _Sydney mused.

_Amazing. In times like this she's still happy at times. _Emile noted.

_Don't go developing a sister complex now. _Clyde roared with laughter before Sydney started hitting him… Which made Squall question how she did but then again it was _his _mind…

_Make… her stop… _Clyde wheezed, _W-wait! Luke, watch where you're- uh oh…_

"Bye Squall!" Nagisa waved as the door opened.

"Take care!" Squall waved back.

_**Smash!**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personae of the Justice Arcana…**_

_Justice… _Squall couldn't help but smile, _Seems very fitting of her._

He walked out after being cleared by the medical staff, being greeted by Minaka.

"Hey Squall!" she smiled, "You ready to head back?"

"Sure." he pulled out his walking stick, "Man, this thing has actually been really useful."

"Who knew?" Minaka giggled, "But why'd you bring back that giant gun?"

"Uh, so I could hang it up in my room and tell people something like: Oh by the way, this is a giant gun I stole from the Reaper."

"You're calling it the Reaper?"

"Seems fitting."

"I suppose," Minaka put a hand to her chin, "Yeah, it works. Wonder why it showed up."

"I guess we'll find out some other time," Squall shrugged, "For now, let's head back."

* * *

"Ah, finally got my networks set up," Squall breathed a sigh of relief as he lay down on his bed, having finished the last of the connections, "That took way too long… maybe it was all those back ups that took a while…"

"Squall?" Minaka poked her head in, "Clare's wondering if you wanna go somewhere to eat for dinner, you know, to celebrate a successful first exploration?"

"Alone?"

"No, with all of us. Why, disappointed?" Her smirk was quickly wiped away as a book came flying at her face, "What the hell, Squall?!"

"Sorry, closest thing I had to throw at you," he said in a completely calm voice, "Sure, let's all go. Where are we heading?"

"Some fancy restaurant. It has a dress code-"

"Nope. They never allow trench coats in there."

"What?! That's it?!"

"I've gotten complaints about my hair, having my MP3 player, all that."

"I'm sure you can just leave it here-"

"Never, NEVER tell me to leave my MP3 player. You know what it means to me."

"I do, but-"

"I don't want to risk having it stolen, so I keep it with me."

"What about when you're sleeping?"

"I sleep with it."

"…"

"…"

"Okay, fine, but the trench coat?"

"I don't fit the Badass Longcoat trope anymore."

"AGAIN WITH THE TROPING!" Minaka slammed her head against the wall, "Really?"

"Really."

"You know I'm trying to have a serious conversation for once."

"And so am I."

"But you're failing."

"Indeed. Besides, I wouldn't want to pressure Clare into picking out some high-class restaurant for us. I'll go wherever she wants to go."

"Um, okay. I'll go tell her that."

"Alright then. Wake me up later, since I need more _sleep_." Squall stretched before allowing his heavy eyelids to fall over his eyes.

"Squall… wake up…"

"Minaka…?" Squall shook his head to wake himself up, "Yeah?"

"Clare said we'll be leaving in like, thirty minutes while she makes a few calls."

"Okay. I should probably shower…" Squall got up off the bed and took his shower, waking him up even more so than before, "Ah, much better."

"Hey Squall… oh…" Minaka blushed as she opened the door to find a shirtless Squall.

"Oops, forgot to lock the door…" Squall instinctively slipped into the bathroom, "Er, could you, uh, lock and close the door?"

"Um, um, um, right!" Minaka shook her head quickly and ducked out, still blushing.

"Geez… Note to self, remember to lock door." Squall growled in his head as he couldn't focus due to Clyde's laughter, "Clyde, would ya shut up in there?!"

_S-sorry… whooooo boy. That was funny._

_That's all you can say? _Sydney asked.

_Laughing is often a distracter. Any thoughts on that, Luke?_

All they got in response was machine gun fire and joyous laughter.

_Fortuna, you in there?_

_Sorry! I've been dodging the bullet rain._

_Bullet what? OWOWOWOWOWOW! _Clyde shouted, _Fuck you too, physics!_

_Bubble shield, bitch._

_Did… did you just curse? _Sydney gasped at Emile's language.

…_Squall we're not watching movies anymore. _Emile quickly added.

_I think we're gonna be having a movie marathon tonight, guys. _Squall mentally laughed as he put his school uniform on.

_Do you always have to wear that? _Fortuna asked, _I mean, you're not going to school._

_But this uniform is amazing! It just goes so well with the coat! Besides, it's comfortable and it feels FA-_

_Finish that sentence and die! _Clyde interrupted, _A real man is not fabulous but badass!_

_Can't I be both?_

_No! Just absolutely no! What kind of man would you be if you were pretty?!_

_A bishonen?_

_Besides that!_

…_Um, I dunno._

_See!_

_Would you just let him have his own choice? _Sydney sighed. _Squall's still a man no matter what clothes he wears._

_Besides, it means a tactical advantage. If your enemy doesn't think you present much harm to appearance, then he will underestimate you, meaning you can annihilate him all the more easier._

_Am I the only sane one here? _Sydney asked out into the deep reaches of Squall's mind.

_Nope. _Fortuna replied, _Though who knows how long it will be before we both get infected by this. May that plague your nightmares._

_Put a sock in it. _Sydney growled.

_Guys, guys, calm down. I gotta head out now. _Squall silenced his mind's voices as he headed out, "Sorry about not being dressed and not having the door locked Minaka…" he stopped as he noticed Zach and Clare in the room, "Oops?"

"Go Squall and Minaka!" Zach cheered, "Whoa what the fuck?!" he dodged a book thrown at his face, "A book of all things?!"

"Closest thing there was to me besides the walking stick," Squall shrugged as he slipped it on his back, "Why, would you rather have had me impale you with extreme prejudice?"

"Are you troping _again _Squall?" Minaka growled.

"Yes. Yes I am." Squall replied without a care in the world, "Now, where's Charlotte? Shouldn't we bring her?"

"Yes, but we just decided to check on you first." Clare answered, "And unfortunately Melody is out."

"You guys go on ahead, I'll go check on her."

"So, what was that about-" Zach didn't get to finish as Minaka hit him in the back of the head.

"Oh, Squall. If you're on you way there, forgot to hand her this," Clare took out three ID cards, "One's for you, another for Minaka, and lastly for Charlotte. If you would be so kind-"

"Done." Squall interrupted, taking Charlotte's and his card, "Hey, what can you guys tell me about her though? I haven't really talked to her and I'd like to know everyone on the SOS Brigade."

"Aw… little Squall's growing up!" Minaka gushed, forgetting once again about Squall's marriage promise to the mystery girl, "Oh, lemme see… last time I talked to her or went over to her room… Oh yeah…" As she was talking, Squall was downing a bottle of water, "Aha! She's a C cup if I remember right. Hm?" Minaka was puzzled at Clare's blushing face, Zach suddenly across the room with a nosebleed, slumped on the floor, and coughing from Squall.

"Didn'tneedtoknowthat!" Squall choked out inbetween coughs, "Fuck! I gotta clean all of this up now… Paper towel…"

"Oh, and if you're curious, I'm a-"

"That information will not be necessary!" Clare said rather quickly.

"Aww… watching Squall's reactions is funny though!"

"While I agree that watching Squall's reactions to things is entertaining, no offense to you Squall-"

"None taken."

"-I don't think this is the proper way of doing it."

"So what's the proper way of doing _it_?" Minaka asked in a suggestive way, "Why don't you… _show _Squall."

"I-I don't need to!" Clare cleared her throat, "We will be waiting downstairs. See you there."

Squall quickly took his cue to leave the room.

_Damn, that was VERY awkward… _he groaned.

_Alright! We got her c-GEEZ! _Clyde yelled in his head, _Squall! Get Sydney to stop trying to hit me!_

_Sydney…_

_Yes Squall?_

_Give him hell._

_WHAT?! H-how could you, bro?_

_Emile, I'm going to need to borrow your shotgun, and Luke I'll need some of those machine guns._

_Have fun Clyde. _Squall smirked as part of his head became separated from his thoughts, since if he hadn't sealed it off, he would've been to distracted by all the explosions and gunfire in the background.

It was a short walk to Charlotte's room, since it wasn't that far away. He knocked rather loudly, pounding his fists on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Squall. We're heading out."

"Oh! Door's unlocked-" Squall opened the door and stepped into the room.

Of course, he found Charlotte, still dressing.

_Okay… She puts on her underwear first and then her bra AND WHAT AM I THINKING?! I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THIS!_

_What is seen can not be unseen. _Surprisingly, it was none other than **Sydney's **voice.

_You… you… HAHAHA! _Clyde laughed in victorious joy.

_Excuse me?_

_Did you just hear yourself speak? _Emile probably had a smile underneath that imaginary helmet.

_I… _Sydney tried to remember, _Oh SHIT._

_EVERYONE SHUT UP! _Squall screamed mentally. He coughed and turned around, "Eherm, I'll just come back later…"

"Hm?" Charlotte turned around, buttoning her shirt when she realized she was still dressing…

With Squall in the room.

"U-u-um, sorry I didn't mean to-"

"I-I didn't see anything!" Squall stammered, covering his eyes, "I-I mean didn't mean to see anything! I'm sorry! Deepest apologizes!"

"I-I-it's okay!" she said, blushing before dashing back into her room, "Um, Squall, it's fine now."

"I'll still count to thirty…" he said, covering his blush with his hands, "I, uh, am gonna start now…"

"R-right…" Charlotte started putting her skirt on, "I-I'm sorry…"

"Three…" she heard Squall mumble.

_Ahahaha, Sydney, we are never going to forget about that! _Clyde laughed, despite being hit by Sydney.

_You… son… of… a… bitch! Stay still so I can hit you!_

A sigh was heard from Emile, and as usual, gunfire from Luke.

_Squall! Hear out your feminine side of you and make him SHUT THE FUCK UP! _Syndey snarled in a rampage, and audible signs of punching were heard.

_Oh, fuck! Shit, that hurts! Bro, here out your brother in hot bloodedness and help me!_

A face palm was heard, courtesy of Emile, _Commander, don't bother. Maybe they can learn to settle with each other._

_That's what I thought, _Squall shrugged mentally, _Oh hey, thirty seconds is up._

"Squall…" a poke to his shoulder brought him back, "I-I'm ready."

"Oh. Right, let's go… Ah, nearly forgot." Squall dug inside his inner pockets and pulled out her ID card, "Here, it just got renewed."

"Ah. Thank you," Charlotte smiled, "Er, shall we?"

"Let's go."

* * *

The dinner wasn't at a fancy restaurant, much to Squall's delight, and was somewhere less fancy but not just another fast food restaurant.

"Wow…" Squall let out a low whistle, "This place looks awesome. I mean, yeah, it looks kinda fancy but it's still a buffet. And holy _shit _do they have a lot of different foods."

"Indeed," Clare nodded, "Minaka told me about your preference-"

Zach and Minaka started snickering, much to Charlotte's confusion and Clare's annoyance. Squall on the other hand just face palmed.

"Well," Zach grinned after paying for the five of them, "Let's see who can eat the most."

* * *

"How…" Minaka groaned along with Charlotte as Squall downed another two sticks of chicken barbeque with a side plate of rice.

"Is…" Clare rubbed her temples after finishing her lemon water.

"He doing that?" Zach slumped forward, making loud clanging sounds as he shook the table, sending utensils here and there.

"Damn, this stuff is good…" Squall chuckled, "What? You guys full already?"

"Dude… how can eat so much?" Zach said, expending much effort.

"I have no idea. So how many plates was that now? Wait, did I win yet?"

"Squall," Minaka sighed, "You won a _long _time ago."

"Well, I think I'll go have dessert now…" Squall got up and started looking for some cake.

"Hey Clare."

"Oh, hi dad. Didn't see you there!" Clare forced a smile, "What brings you here?"

"I came here for dinner as well with Squall's parents to relive the older days, and also, when Squall reaches sixteen plates, tell him to stop. I got some money riding on him with Aran."

"Dad!"

"Just kidding," he chuckled, "Tell him to stop at eighteen."

Exasperated, Clare simply slouched as her father left, laughing.

"The difference in personality between the two of you is interesting," Charlotte giggled, "Clare's always so dignified and uptight while Mr. Anderson is so carefree."

"Tell me about it!" Minaka suddenly perked up, "But hey Charlotte, you seemed kinda tense with Squall earlier. Something _happen?"_

"Minaka, do you have to pair up Squall with everyone… perhaps you're trying to see if anyone else feels anything for him before you move in," Clare said with a triumphant grin.

It also helps that none of them really remembered Squall's marriage promise. After all, they hadn't really known him for too long, so it was easy to forget a few things here and there.

"W-what?!" Minaka nearly shrieked, "I-I am doing no such thing!"

"Hm, never thought of it that way," Zach had a predator-like smile on his face, "So Minaka, ever going to tell us why you're always pairing him with others?"

"Shut up, Zach."

"Hey everyone." Squall called out as he sat down with a slice of chocolate cake, an ice cream cone, an a French vanilla mixed with caramel milkshake, "What's going on? Did I miss anything important?"

"Well, Minaka here was about to explain-"

"-Why I thought you should stop eating so much!" Minaka glared at Zach while maintaining her bright smile, "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"I've eaten more," Squall shrugged, brushing it off like it was nothing, much to everyone else's shock, "Though I think I'll finish up this and be done."

_Commander… you should be concerned with how much you're eating._

_I told you I'm going to stop after this one._

_That's what you said… _Sydney sighed, _Five plates ago._

_Okay, fine. But this food is just so amazing!_

_Bro, seriously, you can't fight if you're too stuffed! What if there's an attack!_

_Yoz wontz be able at fightez! _Luke screamed.

_Fine, fine! I'll __**really **__stop this time around. _Squall grumbled, _And make sure you stop me if I go on._

_**Will do. **_A chorus of four voices rang out, with Fortuna chuckling in the background.

The cake didn't take too long to finish along with the ice cream. The milkshake wasn't any different either, as Squall found himself finishing it very quickly due its delicious taste.

_Maybe-_

_**NO!**_

_Ah I love messing with you guys._

Four exasperated sighs were heard as Squall got up and stretched, "Alright, done!"

"Geez…" Zach shook his head, "How much did you eat?"

"Exactly-"

"I don't think we need to know…" Charlotte got out of her seat, very slowly.

"Uhwahh… I can't get up…" Minaka groaned.

"I gotcha," Squall picked her up and put her on his shoulders, "Let's go."

Zach, Clare, and Charlotte all snickered at Minaka's blushing face as Squall continued to walk on as if it was nothing. After all, just helping out a friend, right?

"S-squall, is this really necessary?" Minaka squeaked.

"You said you couldn't really move. So therefore, I simply provided assistance."

"That's not the only thing she-" Zach was interrupted by an elbow to the stomach, seeing a glare from Clare, who then quickly mouthed, "Drag it out,"

Zach nodded, "Never mind."

"Um, sure?" Squall remembered not to shrug, since Minaka was still on his shoulders, "Well, here we go with a long walk back…"

* * *

When Squall woke up the next morning, he was very, _very _sore on the shoulders, but still managed to drag himself out of bed and get all of his morning routine done.

"Ack…" he groaned, rubbing his shoulder, "Okay, note to self, get all my electronics set up after class today."

After cooking breakfast, he headed off to school early.

* * *

It was another usual pleasant day at Smash High.

Not many fights, Zach making his usual perverted comments, Minaka being a bright ball of sunshine, and Squall being chased by his fan girls, all the time condemning the 'Mysterious Blue-Haired Transfer Student Archetype' to eternal damnation the whole time.

Of course, being chased by all the girls does get you a few enemies, and especially when it came to him hanging around with Minaka. After all, she was the teasing and cheerful type, and the one to often be quite suggestive especially when talking with Squall because it was just oh so much fun to see him squirm.

So, it wasn't much surprise to many boys when they came after him after school.

"Yes?" Squall raised an eyebrow as multiple boys from the school surrounded him, "Is there… something you want from me?"

"Yeah…" one growled, "You need to stop hanging out with Minaka Amagi! You don't deserve to have her around with you all the time!"

_You have __**got **__to be joking, _Squall sighed, rubbing his temples, "Please, I'm begging you, please just absolutely prove me completely wrong when I say that you are going to fight me for being friends with Minaka. Just tell me I'm wrong in saying that and we'll all go on our merry way."

"Get him!"

Ken Thomason was walking down one of the paths away from school when he heard signs of a struggle. He had been looking for Squall just to give him a second ruffling because he convinced himself that's all that he'd need before he would consider his sister avenged. After that, he might apologize and hope Squall understood. Sure, he may act like a thug at times, but at heart, Ken was just another friendly guy. Heck, he had even thought about what Squall had said to him.

However, all plans of fighting were scrapped when he turned the corner and then ducked behind it, then peered out.

The signs of struggle were coming from the multitude of guys assaulting Squall… who was holding them off with his hands in his pockets, merely dodging, tripping, and head butting all those who came at him.

"I can't believe you'd all come after me for some stupid reason like being friends with Minaka!" he sighed, "Seriously, I understand picking fights for someone for a good reason, but yeah, it better be a good reason! Not any of this jealousy bullshit! Geez…" Squall turned around and started walking, "Better get Clare…"

"Squall…" Ken called a bit softly.

"Oh, hi Ken… Uh… I can totally explain." Squall said sheepishly, "Er, you're not looking for a fight with me, are you? Because I'm totally not in the mood for one at the moment."

"I uh, no. I came here to, uh, apologize. Yeah. I do feel kind of bad for fighting you… even if it was for my sis. But why didn't you fight back that time?" he gestured to all the groaning guys on the ground.

"You were fighting to avenge your family that first time. I wouldn't want to deny you the satisfaction of having felt your little sister was avenged. Hell, if my little sis was harmed, I might go ballistic." Squall shrugged, "So…"

"I just want to say sorry about it though…" Ken nodded fiercely, "And…"

"And I think we got started off on the wrong foot," Squall smiled and extended a hand, "My name's Squall Fortuna. Pleasure to meet you."

"Ken Thomason." he shook Squall's hand, "Well met, Squall."

_**Crack!**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have out blessing when creating Personae of the Emperor Arcana…**_

_Emperor… _Squall smiled, _Seems like him, I suppose._

"So, wanna grab an ice cream?" Squall asked after their hands separated, "On me."

"Nope," Ken grinned, "Ice cream on me."

"Anyways, why'd you stop wanting to pick a fight all of a sudden?" Squall grinned, "Were you scared about what I could really do?"

"I'll admit that," Ken sighed, "I know it is kinda jerkish for me to beat you up one day, then a few days later want to make it up to you, but…"

Squall put a hand on his shoulder, "Ken, it's alright. I told you, you beat me up for family, and _that's fine by me._ Just remember not everyone is like that, alright?"

"Right," he nodded, "So, uh… friends, right?"

"Indeed…" Squall's eye suddenly glimmered, "Ah, I know. To make you pay for beating me up, I dub thee Kenjamin for the eternity I know you."

"W-what?!" he stuttered, "Squall, not cool! It sound… uh… erm…"

"See, you can't say it's bad," Squall smiled, "And therefore, that shall be your new name. Right Kenjamin?"

"Hell no!"

"Too bad," Squall laughed, "I like it. So, about that ice cream…"

* * *

**FINALLY I GOT AROUND TO DOING THIS!**

**Geez, yeah I procrastinated quite a bit on this one but it got done! Woohoo!**


	4. Overclocked

**Aaaaaand chapter 4!**

**As usual, I don't own anything besides my characters and plot.**

**Well, here we go!**

* * *

**Thursday March 15****th**** After School**

"That's better!" Squall jumped back as Minaka slashed at him horizontally with her wooden sword, "You have to get faster! Keep going!"

"Haaa… haaa…" Minaka gasped for breath as she continued her assault on Squall, "Come on… just stay still…"

"Minaka, those Primids are not like nice people. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows." Squall ducked underneath a sword swipe and rolled back, "You'll have to learn eventually. Damn!" he grunted as Minaka quickly swiped and got him on the neck, "Man, that smarts."

"OhmygoshSquallareyouokay?!" she quickly said, looking at the area she had hit, "A-aah!"

She tripped, and pushed both of them to the floor, "A-are you…"

"Minaka… Minaka… I'm fine." he stopped her and stared into her eyes, "Hey, at least you're learning… you're able to actually hit me now…"

"Guys?" Zach walked into the room, catching the two in a very compromising position, "I, er, didn't mean to interrupt! I'll, uh, see you guys later!"

He hurried out of the room, nearly breaking out into a sprint.

"W-wait, it's not…" Minaka sighed as Squall got up, "Well, looks like we'll have to hear about this for a while now."

"I've got a few books I can hurl at him," Squall chuckled, "Come on, let's go grab some ice cream."

_**SMASH**_

_Could you actually be consistent for once? _

_**Thy bond has been strengthened…**_

_Ah… so I not only make bonds but strengthen them. I see. _Squall smiled.

"Squall, quit zoning out!" Minaka snapped her fingers in front of him, "Geez, it's like you used more energy training me than me actually trying to train… You really should watch out for yourself more."

"I'm fine," Squall assured her, "Seriously though, you really are getting better in fighting."

"Aw, thanks Squall," Minaka blushed, "But I'm not that great right now…"

"Hey, you're improving, and that's what matters. Besides, with our current schedule, we're actually supposed to have another major Subspace attack in less than a month, so you can actually do something this time around."

"But I'm not that good, so I might not be very helpful…"

"Well, you won't be as much of a liability, I guess," Squall shrugged, "I thought you were one for sunshine and rainbows."

"Yeah… but I'm starting to realize just what kind of thing we've gotten ourselves into. But I'll try my best!" Minaka nodded fiercely, "And you're going to help me."

"Sure thing," Squall gave her a thumbs up and he went for the men's shower, "Oh, and Minaka."

"Yes Squall?"

"If you ever need a friend, I'll be there for you. But you already knew that, right?" Squall winked as he walked away, leaving behind a blushing Minaka.

"Ooooh, you!" she quietly pouted, "Why does he always do that? I know he's just being a good friend, but still, does he have to act like that?"

* * *

_Is it so necessary to act like that? _Emile questioned as Squall took his shower.

_Hey, you never know. What if Minaka's that girl from all that time ago? _Clyde shrugged.

_I doubt it. _Sydney chimed in, _She would have recognized the story Squall told._

_Maybe she forgot and will discover she actually is that girl. If we were stuck inside a cliché love story. Or harem anime. _Fortuna commented.

_What makes you say 'cliché'? _Clyde asked.

_Cliché because that girl I was the last one I talked leaving Smashville, and Minaka was the first I talked to coming here, which would be a cliché. Also, she'd be the first girl we met. First Girl Wins, right? _Squall started, _So, she's the Pollyanna, Charlotte is the shy girl, Clare's the Tsundere, and Melody would eventually become the Yandere. That covers harem anime. _

_Okay… _Sydney paused, _Wait, when did you have time to come up with that theory?_

_TvTropes. It is in my mind. Say hello, TvTropes._

_Hi. _Came Fortuna's voice.

_OH SHIT IT'S TAKEN FORTUNA! _Clyde screamed in horror.

_I am surprised a supposedly honorable knight like you would indulge in such an activity such as pranks. _Emile said to Fortuna, who was chuckling.

_I may wear the armor of a knight to reflect how people see me on the outside. Remember I am Squall's true self, the armor on the outside is how people see me as honorable, but I'm still rather silly on the inside. _Fortuna explained, _So pardon me if I shock you with that._

_You apologize right afterwards… _Sydney shook her head, _Geez…_

_My mind is a goddamn mess, _Squall chuckled as he dried himself off while listening to music, _And music is my maid._

_An ovahzwokked un, zat is. _Luke added, erupting in laughter with the others.

_Oh put a sock in it. _Squall growled, _Or do I need to imagine up Cthulhu again?_

_Not again! _Emile groaned, _Please… not again…_

_Good. _Squall grinned, starting to dress.

* * *

"Oh, hey pops," Squall greeted as he passed his father in the hall after walking out of the bathroom for a bit, "Hey, I was just about to grab a snack. On me?"

"Why are you being so friendly all of a sudden?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, if I'm gonna be working for my dad to save the world, we might as well be on good terms so it doesn't go down the Evangelion route."

"What?"

"It means that we essentially hate each other's guts," Squall shook his head, "Geez, you really should watch more anime."

"Forgive me if I don't have the time."

"Well, it's no problem. So, let's have a chat."

* * *

"Right… I'll talk to your mother about it." Aran nodded as he finished his fries, "Though Charlotte is our best pilot here. It is rather risky to have her not pilot her robot."

"I know, but still, I hope you understand."

"You're a hard person to understand though."

"Family is hard to understand," Squall shrugged, "But I do my best."

_**CRACK**_

_Be… freaking… consistent! _Squall inwardly growled to the mysterious voices. He'd have to ask Igor about that sometime.

_**Thy bond has been strengthened…**_

"Well, I'll see you later. I have some business to attend to."

"Seeya later," Squall waved as he threw away his trash.

Deciding to stop by the mall before he headed back to the apartments, he looked down a hallway lit blue and found a blue glowing door.

_Eh, well, no risk, no reward, _Squall reached for the doorknob and opened the door-

-And appeared in the Velvet Room.

It was an elegant ballroom, that could hold many people. Dark blue chairs that were at tables with velvet covers, and a piano in the center, playing itself.

"Hello," Igor spoke in his usual voice, with his assistant next to him.

"Hey Igor," Squall greeted, "So, can only I see this door?"

"Yes, now, I suppose you have a few questions. But first, let me inform you of our real purpose."

"Yes," his assistant spoke, "I am sure you remember me from our last meeting."

"Yeah… Margaret, right…" he received a nod from her.

"Our job here is to help you, through the fusion of Personae." she elaborated.

"And, with the power of bonds…"

"You mean those voices that pop into my head when I make friends?"

"Yes, your Social Links. Strengthening those will allow you to create more powerful Personae."

"So, Go To School, Make Friends, Save The World?"

"An interesting way of putting things… ah, you should take this. You'll need this to get in next time…" A blue key appeared before Squall, who noted on the part where you hold the key, there was a mask icon which was similar to the one on the back of his Persona cards, "Now… did you need anything else?"

He contemplated asking about the voices, but then opted out to ask, "Are there other doors?"

"You will find them, do not worry," Igor assured him.

"Well, that's about it. Later days," Squall waved goodbye as he turned around to find the blue door that had led him in here, and opened it. He found himself back in the mall. He checked his watch. Still the same time than when he left, "That's cool. Time stopping and whatnot. At least people won't be suspicious of me staying still for maybe three hours on end."

_I've got time to kill, _Squall looked around for something to do, _Hm, oh, it's Kenjamin._

"Oi, Kenjamin!" Squall called out while waving.

"Hm? Squall?" Kenjamin looked up and faced Squall, "Ugh, that's not my name!"

"You responded to it."

"Shut up." he growled, "What are you doing here?"

"Finished training with Minaka, grabbed a snack, then decided to waste some time here."

"I thought Clare would be making you do homework, from what Zach tells me anyways."

"Meh, I finished all the homework on the trip to the HQ," Squall said offhandidly, "So-"

"Hey what the hell do you think you're doing!" Kenjamin suddenly yelled out while storming to some kids that looked like they were in the same high school year as Squall and Kenjamin. Squall scanned the area and made out the figure of a girl near the three guys Kenjamin was going at. The girl was obviously in an uncomfortable position, most likely from advances from the three boys.

"Oh, it's Inquisitor Ken." one rolled his eyes, "Going to ruin our fun again?"

"It's nothing, we're only talking to this girl."

"As if!" Kenjamin crossed his arms and glared, "I saw you three damn perverts feeling up her arms and all that! Hm… ah, I remember. I thought I told you that if I ever saw this happen again, then you'd really get it-" He was about ready to punch the supposedly leader when his fist was caught.

"Ken. There is no need for you to fight here." Squall said calmly.

"See, your friend says not to fight! Besides, we'll beat your ass down-"

"Because I can take care of them." Squall slugged the first in the face, then chained an elbow into the stomach, followed by a quick kick to the ribs, "Ken, first rule of enforcing the rules. No second chances for something like groping. The fact you let them get away with it the first time with a warning invites them to do it again. People like the risk, I suppose." Squall dodged a punch and jumped over a low kick, then countered by throwing his legs out to kick the guy in the face, landed on his back (which hurt with the walking stick), but got up quick enough to head butt the second one in the stomach, "Do I need to kick your asses more?"

"L-let's get out of here guys!" the three ran away, while Squall sighed.

"Wow… I've dealt with guys like that before but one time from you and… Oh, miss, are you alright?"

"Y-yes…"

"Charlotte?" Squall tilted his head in curiosity, "Is that you?"

"O-oh… Squall… hi…"

"You two know each other?"

"Not really-" His phone went off and he checked it. He found an alert on it, "Shit! I gotta run! Damnit, I forgot I need to pick up groceries! Catch you two later! And Kenjamin, remember what I told you!"

_**CRASH**_

_Not the damn time! _Squall groaned as he sped off.

_**Thy bond has been strengthened…**_

"Does Squall usually act like that?" Kenjamin asked.

"Oh… yes… he's usually like that… much to Clare's dismay."

"Ah, I didn't introduce myself… I'm…"

"Ken Thomason. I know, Clare was screaming at Zach about how you beat Squall up…"

Ken gulped, "Sorry…"

"It's fine…" Charlotte put on a small, warm smile, "Squall explained everything afterwards."

"I still feel guilty…"

"You don't need to be, Squall's fine with it. He's a nice person… he also said that you were too. Someone I can trust."

"Really… he said that about me…" Kenjamin sighed, "Damnit, he's really too nice to people."

"…I guess…"

"So, er, want to go get something to eat? I mean, if it's not too much trouble for you and I'm sure you're busy with other things-"

"It's fine…" Charlotte giggled even for but a fleeting second, "I'm not busy. I'd like to get to know Squall's friends as well. He must have attracted a lot of interesting people."

* * *

"Sorry… had… to grab… groceries…" Squall panted as he set down several bags, "Damn that's heavy."

"Oh, you're back!" Minaka greeted, "And wow you look tired."

"Ran… from the mall to store to here… Ugh…" Squall sat down, "What time is it?"

"About five fourty three. Why?"

"Need to sleep," Squall limped over to his room, "Call me at about six, I'll cook dinner."

"Mkay…" she watched him disappear into his room, "Geez, he really overworks himself."

"Minaka? Are you in there?" she heard knocking.

"Yes, is that you Clare?"

"Yes. May I speak with you?"

"No problem. Come on in." Minaka turned off the TV, "Is it about Squall?"

"Yes… I've noticed that he's been overworking himself lately." Clare sighed, "Can you think of anything that would get him to relax?"

"Is there a club? I heard from his friends when they were chatting online that they were sending him his violin over."

"Ah, that's it! Cultural Clubs open up on Monday!" Clare snapped her fingers, "Hm, also sport clubs open up soon, so can I trust you to convince him?"

"Leave it to me!" Minaka winked.

* * *

"So, I hear there's a nice music club at Smash High…" Minaka started.

"Really?! Damn, I need to get Lione to send my stuff here ASAP!" Squall bolted from the table back to his room, completely surprising Minaka.

"Geez… I thought it'd take more than that." Minaka shook her head, then send Clare a text message: _Got him. He needed no convincing._

_Really? _was Clare's reply.

_Yup. Anyways, talk to you later! Have fun with Zach ;D_

She didn't get a response as Squall came back, "So, how'd it go?"

"Lione's still packing it, but it's definitely going on express shipping now. I can't wait until they start recruiting! Ooh, what piece to play, and damn I'm out of practice!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Minaka tried to calm him down, "I know they'll love you! Besides, you definitely have the musician's aura around you… then again you seem to have every sort of aura for everyone around you."

_If only I could tell you about the Social Links, _Squall sighed inwardly, _But I don't want to ruin friendships…_

"Anyways, I'm going to bed…"

"I'll get the dis-"

"On second thought I've got the dishes! Go, go! Off to bed~!" Minaka shoved Squall out of his seat and began pushing him into his room, "I've got it all covered!"

"Minaka, I want to help-"

"Squall Fortuna!" Squall gulped. Why? One major rule when it comes to girls talking to boys is if the full name is used, you are in _deep shit_. However, Squall didn't know just how deep he was, "You have been overworking yourself these past few days! You need to rest!"

"I have not been overworking myself!"

"Really, because two days ago after school when we decided to go for another Subspace run…"

* * *

_Flashback…_

Squall dashed through the halls of the fourth floor down, with Clare telling him there was a bigger signal on the fifth, so he was saving his spiritual power as he cut through the Primids.

"That's another group done," Squall grabbed the card with leaves on it, also known as Wand, which somehow quantified experience so one battle would feel as if they had fought one and a half at times. There were also times he felt a surge of power as he fought his enemies, plus Zach and Minaka had also reported they felt similar phenomena. He started to tally how many times this happened to the team in total, and being uncreative simply labeled them 'levels', also forcing the voices in his head (mainly Sydney) that he wasn't in a video game. He placed Zach at Level 4 to begin with as he had experience fighting before, and Minaka and himself began at one. It fit the pattern, after all. Squall and Minaka had reached 4 surges while Zach had only reached two so far.

He also had nabbed two other Personae, Angel and Asparas. Angel had a wind spell and Squall felt there was something more that she would get with more experience. However, the one thing he didn't really like was her appearance, which was a woman in… gear that he would rather not elaborate on. Asparas was a Persona with ice powers, which Squall found useful against the Fire Primids, since ice seemed to be more effective than wind.

"Squall… come on… let's rest up…" Zach panted, "Seriously, how do you have so much endurance?"

"I was a bit of a trouble maker in middle school, mainly with falling asleep in class. Punishment was run three laps around the school. Add another one for each time teach caught you." Squall explained as he sliced another Primid in half, with it exploding into Shadow Bugs, "So yeah."

"Um…" Minaka struggled to think of Squall not being a model student. It proved to be too difficult.

"You'd have to see it to believe it."

"Right…" Zach started but then pointed behind Squall, "Heads up, we've got… Ice Primids?"

"Damn," Squall growled, "I don't have any fire spells! Well, we can do the next best thing… Change!" Squall swapped to Asparas, "Ice resistance. Let me tank the damage, you guys take them out."

"But Squall-" Minaka protested.

"Hey, I've got ice resistance!" Squall snapped, "And I'm not putting either of you guys at risk!"

Before anyone could formulate an argument, Squall took off, grunting as each ice attack hit him, "Come on…"

As the three Ice Primids kept battering Squall with their attacks, Zach rushed up from the left while Minaka took the right and attacked the Primids. As the last one was vanquished, Squall collapsed to his knees but managed to keep vision long enough to see where the Cups card was and heal himself.

"Squall!" Minaka gasped as he got up.

"Don't worry," Squall weakly smiled as he switched to Pixie for healing, "Grabbed a Cups card. It heals."

"Dude, you're crazy," Zach sighed and shook his head as he retrieved a bottle that held a healing potion inside (technically it was called the Fast Acting Field Medicine, but since it functioned like a healing potion in a video game, Squall dubbed it 'healing potion').

"Shouldn't we save this for the battle next floor?" Squall pushed it away.

"And if you die before we get there, it won't be any use," Zach unscrewed the lid off, "Now drink it."

_~Squall, take it.~ _Clare commanded over the comm unit before Squall could open his mouth.

"Very well then," Squall downed the potion in one gulp, "So, do you want us to save the bottle?"

"Give it here," Zach caught it and put it away.

Minaka looked down the hallway to the right, "Hey! I see the stairs! Let's go!"

The group quickly ran down the stairs, and upon the last of them leaving the stairs and landing on the fifth floor, the stairs vanished.

"Damnit, that always freaks me out." Zach grumbled.

"Meh," Squall shrugged, "We should try playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent sometime."

"Eep! No! That game is scary!" Minaka whimpered.

_~Hey, Squall, I'm reading something right in front of you.~_

"Mhm." Squall looked over the orange door that had a large circle almost where a window would be, "Let's try opening it…"

The door swung open as his hand made contact, and everything went white.

* * *

"Ack!" Squall grunted as he fell over, "Where…"

"Oh… what?" Clare looked behind the group who had fallen in to see the same door Squall had seen, "How…"

"Wait…" Squall turned around, "If this works how I think it does…"

He put his hand to the door again, and the team vanished.

However, for Squall, he was in the world of white again, but he could see a small part of a map. There was a line that went from a dot to another dot labeled '5'. Directing his thought process to going there, the group found themselves on the same floor.

"Clare…?"

"_Yes… My goodness, you're on the same exact floor! I'm also still reading that power source on that floor. There should be the enemies I detected around there."_

"Roger that," Squall nodded at his team that was getting up, "Let's go."

The hallway was empty until they came to a large open room. In the middle were three large birds that had white wings with a rainbow of colors for the tips of its feathers and a mechanical set of eyes and beak.

"Alright SOS Brigade, let's do this!" Squall got into a combat stance as the birds came at them.

He dodged the first one, since his mechanical eye had done an analysis (which was Charlotte's doing. The girl was excellent with machines and programming) that they had very high piercing power, "Don't bother blocking! Their piercing abilities are a little too much for us!"

"Got it!" Zach leapt back to avoid an attack, "Damn, alright, time to use my special ability!"

"What?" Squall asked as he used Garu one of the birds, which Clare had just classified as Auroros, swearing as they absorbed wind-based attacks.

"_Most people with a high enough Smash Factor have some sort of special ability. Yours is most likely the ability of Persona." _Clare explained, _"Zach, on the other hand…"_

"Let's go!" Zach's eyes glowed with power as four other knives that looked ghostly appeared next to him, "My special ability, Ghost Blades!"

**[Music: Emerald Sword, by Rhapsody]**

"Take care of the other two! I got this one!" Zach started attacking one of the Auroros with all six of the blades at his disposal, taking it out with ease.

Meanwhile, Squall was taking on the other two, using Fortuna to cover his back. However, Squall was having a tough time since Fortuna resisted Pierce attacks, but was still rather slow in reacting with all of his armor.

"Damn," Squall parried another strike, "Sucks that these guys absorb wind."

"Isn't Asparas good here?"

"I don't know what Asparas' exactly weak to!" Squall grunted as he took more sympathetic injuries from Fortuna. It didn't really hurt him due to the fact Fortuna had armor, but it would still hurt, "I can try though. Change!" Fortuna exploded in a flurry of Tarot cards to be replaced by Asparas, "Persona!" Crushing the Priestess card, a ball of ice flew into the Auroros, and it fell as its wings were frozen over.

"Minaka, your turn." Squall stepped back as Minaka punted the fallen enemy, taking out the one Zach was about to finish off.

"Hey! Kill steal!" he grumbled, "Let's take out this last guy!"

"I got this." Squall took a deep breath, "Here we go!"

Squall leapt at the last one, blade ready to strike. After a flurry of slashes, Squall landed on the ground, and without bothering to face the last Auroros, said, "You are dead."

Which is when it exploded.

Squall felt two power surges this time, _Damn, those guys were actually kind of difficult._

_I'm sorry I wasn't faster. _Fortuna sighed, _I will aspire to become so!_

_It's fine, let's keep going. _Squall continued down the hall, and noticed a room on the right, "Hey, guys, I see some treasures here."

"Really?" Zach looked into the room Squall peaked into, "Let's grab all this loot!"

Breaking open the glass boxes didn't take long.

"So, let's count spoils. We got a potion like thing that glows gold, so I assume that might heal both our health and spiritual energy… oh, about those Ghost Blades."

"Yeah, I think they run off of spiritual energy as well."

"Convenient. So, two of those golden potions, three more blue potions, and-"

"Hey boys…" Minaka said huskily as she walked in…

Dressed in gear that was silver in color and a little too similar to Angel's appearance for Squall.

"Minaka," Squall covered his eyes, "Where…"

"Oh, it was in one of the boxes! Seriously though, I feel stronger in this!"

"Er…" Squall blushed, "Put some clothes on! Come on, we're using that warp door to get out."

_End flashback…_

* * *

"And then you went the day after that! Seriously!"

"Hey, I want to be sure I'm strong enough to defend you guys! I don't want to lose my friends. And where the hell did you put that armor?"

"Why, you want me to put it on for you?" Minaka winked.

"No!" Squall said a little too forcefully, "Eherm, I mean, if you said it makes you feel stronger, great. But please put your clothes over it."

"Aw, but it's so comforting and it just feels so free in it."

"And Zach'll get killed because he's too busy dying of a nosebleed." Squall deadpanned, "And how was that overworking myself?"

"Because you're always trying to figure out what to do and doing it at the same time! Geez, you need to relax…"

"Fine." Squall sighed, "Maybe so. Anyways, good night."

"Uh… alright then… G'night." Minaka sighed as she lay down on the couch. While she was upset about Squall overworking himself, she was upset because _she _wasn't doing much for the team. Because she was so useless…

:No… I'm not useless." Minaka growled underneath her breath, "Squall has told me that there's a reason I'm on this team. I'm not here just to take up space," she scolded that part of her mind, "I have a use. And I will find it."

And with that, something arose out of her soul, ready to be used.

* * *

**Monday, March 19****th**

"Ugh… damnit, I hate Mondays." Squall groaned as he got out of bed, "Shit, I shouldn't have stayed up so late practicing my violin. Or have made us go through Subspace earlier that day. But at least I managed to get to Level 7, plus I nabbed Omoikane, Nekomata, and Ara Mitama. But damn it took forever to find Nekomata again once I fused her and Angel to get Omoikane…"

_I see what Minaka says about overworking yourself. _Sydney chided him, _At least you're awake. I still shiver at the thought of a reenactment of when you received your guitar._

_Don't remind me… _Emile sighed, _You weren't bad at it Squall, but you spent two whole days of your three day long weekend practicing only to sleep in all through the third._

_Hey, I got good at it, alright? _Squall half heartedly argued as he took a shower. It was standard routine. Wake up, shower, make breakfast, brush teeth, go to school.

"Hey, still as light as ever," Squall grinned as he lifted his violin case. Then checked the violin was in there for the fifth time.

"You are so paranoid," Minaka sighed, "Seriously, it won't mysteriously vanish from inside."

"How do you know that?" Squall narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, it's just really unlikely that it'll just vanish on the spot," she shrugged, "So, music club today. What club should I join…"

"Just pick one that suits you."

"Well, which one does?"

"That, Minaka, only you can answer."

"Stop using all that metaphorical stuff!" she yelled at a laughing Squall, "Damnit! Get back here!"

* * *

Squall was sipping another bottle of water (which begged the question of why he didn't just use a reusable one), with Minaka panting at his side.

"…Damn… you… running…" Minaka said inbetween pants.

"Please, that was nothing," Squall grinned, "You should see the laps around my school back home."

"… Carry me."

"What?"

"You made me run after you while you laughed about psychology. Now, you are going to carry me."

"Your choice to run." Squall threw his water bottle across the lobby straight into the recycling bin, "Booyaka!"

"Referencing… this early in the morning?" Minaka sighed, sinking her head down, "Now, carry me."

"Fine." Squall rolled his eyes, and picked her up bridal style, "I'm lazy this morning, so no piggyback rides."

"N-not like this though!" Minaka stammered with a blushing face.

"Squall Fortuna, what do you think you are doing?" a commanding voice growled.

"Oh, heya there Mr. Linus!" Squall called back to the teacher who was wearing a dark blue suit (which Squall found distasteful with the yellow shirt underneath), "Well, Minaka was really tired from running because she doesn't like all the psychology and tried to kill me, so I'm carrying her off to class. Is something wrong with that?"

"Liar!" Squall sighed. _Here we go again… _"You obviously have stunned her and are carrying her away to have your way with her!"

"In a school building. Where there are plenty of witnesses. Right." Squall rolled his eyes, "Not every boy in high school is some pervert. Geez, you know though, it would take one to know one."

Minaka giggled as Squall started his way up the stairs, ignoring an angry Mr. Linus.

"Geez… why is he always like that?" Minaka sighed.

"I'm sensing displacement. Maybe he didn't get a girl in high school and is now taking it out on everyone else," Squall shrugged, "Don't really know. But he's really starting to annoy me. And I have him for English which sucks."

"Wow, that must be terrible."

"He's always accusing guys left and right. One might think he's trying to get them away so he can watch the girls himself!"

"Squall!"

"Just a possibility, no need to get so worked up about it." he smirked, "Why-"

"Don't you dare!"

"Alright, I'll admit that would be a low blow."

"That wouldn't be the only low blow you'd see."

"Um…"

"Oh nothing!" she sang, "Let's just head to class."

For some reason, Squall could swear he heard Clyde mumbling in fear.

* * *

**After School**

Squall was looking around the hall he was in, "Room… where the hell are you!"

In short, he was lost.

"Damn this school and its never ending hallways," Squall growled, "Ah, here it is!"

He opened the door and went in, finding it dark inside. There were a few musical instruments lying around in a highly organized manner, sheet music stored away in shelves, and everything was very clean. Squall turned the lights on and set his violin case on a chair and was drawn to a guitar he couldn't quite make the name of and picked it up.

He played the intro of his favorite song, and started singing, "Paper bags and plastic hearts, our belongings in shopping carts, it's goodbye! But we've got one more night… Let's get drunk and ride around, and make peace with an empty town… We can make it right! Throw it away! Forget yesterday! We'll make the great escape! We won't hear a word, they say! They don't know us anyway! Watch it burn, let it die, 'cause we are finally free, tonight…"

"Wow…" a voice spoke, "You're pretty good!"

"Ah! Sorry," Squall put the guitar down, "Sorry, I usually play violin but it's been a while since I had a guitar to play. Are you the Music Club?"

"Yup. Sorry if we're late, we were checking if the first years wanted to join in. Come on in guys." A few people entered the room. Few enough Squall could count them with his two hands, "Ah… yes, we're not that big. Most people are joining sports clubs now. Besides, you can't play that much modern music these days. The way that they edit the sounds, it's just-"

"I know," Squall nodded, "I still like the classics and old music no one's ever heard."

"Like that song-"

"Hey, Cristo, shouldn't you introduce yourself?" one voice called, and Squall saw it was a boy, second year like him, at the trumpet.

"Right. I'm Cristo Gostra." he put out a hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Squall Fortuna," Squall shook his hand.

"Ah, the mysterious transfer student," Cristo grinned, "There's been a lot of talk on what club you'll join."

"Well, I slipped out secretly, so all of those crazed beings called fan girls probably won't find me for a while. So, are we going to get playing right on the get go?"

"Enthusiastic too. Hm… violin, I'd like to hear you play."

"Sure," Squall opened his case, and breathed a sigh of relief to find it was still in there, along with the bow, "Here goes…" Taking a deep breath, he recalled the notes of the song he had played all those years ago when first auditioning for the orchestra. _Lione, Heather, Mackenzie, help me. _Like before, he had imagined the blue ballroom, and smiled as memories of the Velvet Room came up.

It was then he realized just how much his song sounded like the music in the Velvet Room.

_Creepy, _he thought as he finished the song, _Well, just a coincidence._

"Wow, two songs I've never heard," Cristo let out a low whistle, "What were those songs?"

"First one is called The Great Escape. I don't remember the title of the second, when I was thinking of a song to play once it sorta just popped into my head." Squall answered, "So yeah."

"Hm, that's nice. So we've actually got ten club members now! That's great!"

"Do we ever have a concert?"

"Um… sorta, but no one really shows up." one girl said, who had a cello in her hands.

"Well, then we better get practicing, get a lot better, play awesomely, and get more people to jump on this bandwagon, if you'll excuse the pun." Squall smiled.

"Squall… you're crazy," Cristo's grin broke into a wide smile, "But I'm for it! Are you guys with us?"

_**SMASH**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Magician Arcana…**_

Unfortunately Squall didn't hear what they had said over the spooky voices, but he knew from the happy looks on their faces they were with him.

_A band of musical brothers and sisters that would bring music back, _Squall grinned to himself, _Yes, that is what we are._

"Alright everyone, let's get practicing. Now, personally I think this piece…"

* * *

Squall tumbled through the door to the apartment, "Guh… so tired…"

"Squall, welcome… back…" Minaka stared at the collapsed for of Squall who had fallen asleep at the door after walking in, "Sheesh, overworking yourself still…"

She laid him on the couch, his head resting in her lap.

"Squall, when are you ever going to realize that you might hurt yourself… or worse," Minaka shook her head, "What are you going to do if you end up dying because of this?" she hugged Squall and held him close, "Squall, when you wake up, I swear I'll make you actually sleep for once. You need rest… just because you are the leader of our combat group at the moment doesn't mean you have to make this many sacrifices…"

She stopped as a notebook fell to the floor from Squall's inner coat pockets.

"A Guideline… To Life?" she took a look inside and flipped through the pages. Pages and pages of Squall's handwriting, drawings, diagrams, lists, all sorts of things, "Number 56... A good leader makes sacrifices for his men, not sacrifices of his men. Number 57: Friends first. Yourself last. Number 58: Make as many friends as you can… Number 59: Never leave Lione alone with electronics (very important)," she closed the book, "Is this why you are what you are?"

His eyebrow twitched as if to say yes.

Minaka's gaze went from Squall to the notebook. Back and forth, over and over again.

"Eherm!" she coughed "I, well, I'll leave you for now Squall. Get some rest."

With that, she scurried out to her room, where she'd simply go to sleep, wondering what else Squall thought about in a day, what went through his mind, and just how he could live the way he did. He was a wild card, alright.

* * *

**And we end the day with ship teasing between the two! Hooray!**

**Yeah, I had to. Besides, I am REALLY tired right now after finishing this chapter.**


	5. Soul Phrase, Emotional High!

**And another chapter! Hooray!**

**As usual I don't own anything but my original characters!**

**Oh, I almost forgot to list Fortuna as a Persona here to specify all his stuff.**

**Name: Fortuna**

**Arcana: Fool**

**Strengths/Resistances: None**

**Weaknesses: Ice**

**Skills: Bash (Light Smash Damage), Garu (Light Wind)**

**Squall's other Persona: Pixie, Asparas, Nekomata, Ara Mitama, and Omoikane. He's also Level 7**

**Ah, and just a notice. You know when a character is about to doing something when you see [Music: blahblahblah]? Yeah, that's their Theme Music. Squall's is The Great Escape, Zach's should be changed to His World by Zebrahead, and we'll find out Minaka's today!**

**And ugh, I don't like how short this chapter is. Barely over 5.5 K words. Usually I'm higher than that. But we're getting close to the first boss fight so I guess I'm just rushing.**

**Onto the chapter!**

* * *

**Tuesday, March 20th**

"Run!" Squall commanded as he pointed down the hallway, "Reaper's back!"

"Damn!" Zach growled.

"Squall, come on!"

"I can hold him back better now! You guys can fill out the map, so I can run to the stairs! Now go!" Squall readied his weapon, getting into a defensive stance.

"…Damnit, I wish I could do more." Zach grumbled, knowing that Squall could deal with the threat the best, "Minaka, let's go!"

"F-fine…" she reluctantly went with him.

"Alright…" Squall switched to Fortuna, "Let's dance."

The Reaper turned the corner, no guns in hand, but it's long flowing coat still made Squall a bi tense.

"Hm?" Squall raised an eyebrow, maintaining a combative position but relaxing slightly, "…what? No guns this time?"

"**I merely wish to talk."**

"Um…" Squall trailed off, very, very confused.

"**For what reason have you come to this domain of death?"**

"To train for all the stuff that's happening in our world. My turn: Why are you here, the supposed personification of death?"

"…**I can not tell you that."**

"Right…"

_Holy shit, _Squall struggled to keep calm, _I. Am. Having. A Conversation. With what could be Death itself. Mind equals blown._

_**Shck-crick-crok**_

_What?_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Tower Arcana…**_

_So, I bonded with Death, eh? _Squall let a smile grace his face, _WAIT WHAT?! How is that even possible, it doesn't make any sense!_

"**Well… that is enough idle chatter for now…"**

"Right…" Squall got ready to run as the icon for the stairs appeared, "but… you don't have a weapon… so I'm going leave…"

"**Oh really?" **Squall could've sworn that the bandages moved as if the Reaper was smiling.

Then of course, instead of a single pistol, the Reaper simply pulled out a hand cannon.

"**I have many more weapons than you would think."**

_Oh. Oh shit._

_RUN! _Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs.

_Retreat commander! This is a battle which we can not win! _Emile cautioned.

_Sometimes you gotta put all that fighting energy into staying alive! AND RUNNING! _Clyde yelled.

'_Ey… we cans always come backz unnozuh day! _Luke said.

_Let's go! _Squall and Fortuna thought simultaneously, _Let's get back alive._

Squall dashed through the halls, switching to Ara Mitama as the cannon shells whizzed by, "Persona!"

The red teardrop looking Persona appeared, and growled as the cannon shells hit him, only to be shrugged off. However, Squall still felt a bit of pain, grunting as he fell, but broke into a roll and took off running.

"Left…" Squall mumbled to himself as he followed the map, "Stairs… in sight!"

"Come on Squall!" Zach waved as Squall was starting the final stretch.

"Shit!" Squall fell over as Ara Mitama took another hit, "Damn…"

**[Music: Stars by Switchfoot]**

_No… _Minaka's eyes widened in horror, _No… no… no…nonononono! It can't end like this!_

The feeling of whatever had awoken caused her eyes to begin glowing red.

"Minaka, wait!" Zach called out to the girl, grabbing her arm, but Minaka simply shrugged her off.

"_From thine depths of my soul… I call upon the power of words…" _Minaka said in a monotone as she walked towards Squall and the Reaper, who was advancing on the boy with leisure, _**"SPEAK! SOUL PHRASE, EMOTIONAL HIGH! FLAMES OF PASSION!**_

An blue infinity sign appeared below Minaka's feet, which turned red as the flames ignited.

"Whoa…" Zach's mouth hung open as he saw Minaka's power, _All I got is some Ghost Blades… but this…_

"_**Burn in the infinite passion of the sun!" **_Minaka yelled, pointing one finger at the Reaper.

A firestorm erupted around her. Some of the flames went into her finger and shot off a constant beam towards the Reaper. The rest of the flames flew towards the Reaper as well, engulfing it in a massive inferno.

"**Damn!" **he snarled, bringing up an arm to shield himself, **"Interesting though… the power of humans is indeed formidable. I shall pull back for now…"**

The Reaper vanished into thin air, but a bit of his chuckle still hung in the air, unnerving Squall seeing as the Reaper was still able to hold up against such a powerful fire attack.

"Uh!" Minaka collapsed as Squall got up.

"Minaka!" Squall held her and shook her, "Come on, Minaka, speak to me!"

"Squall…" Minaka blinked twice, "Did I…"

"You forced the Reaper back," Squall grinned as he ran a hand through her hair, "Congrats. Even I couldn't do that. Looks like you have a combat ability after all."

_Useless… _Minaka couldn't help a smile, _I'm not useless. I can help my friends… _she blushed as she realized her attack, _Flames of Passion_, used when it came to Squall.

"I got you…" Squall lifted her up, "Zach, let's find ourselves an exit."

As they wandered around, Squall asked Minaka about her powers.

"So, what exactly awakened your powers?"

"I… I don't know. It felt like my emotions were sky rocketing though, seeing you so close to death…" she turned away, unable to look Squall in the eyes, letting him glare at Zach who had a smirk on his face.

"I remember what you yelled though," Zach added, smirk still on his face, "Ah, it was 'Soul Phrase, Emotional High! Flames of Passion!'"

"I don't think I'll be able to use it unless my emotions are that high again…" Minaka said dejectedly, "I mean, I yelled 'Emotional High' with it, right?"

"Perhaps. But that means it's influenced by your emotions, meaning the stronger you feel about protecting or fighting the more powerful it is." Squall encouraged, "And since you're so cheery all the time, I'm sure it'll always be powerful."

"Aw… thanks Squall." she blushed, "Hey! I see the door!"

As the golden door opened and the group walked through it, they found themselves back in the Exploration Room. However, as usual they could never enter right side up, all of them becoming a tangled mess on the floor.

Or at least, Squall and Minaka were.

"Why am I never so lucky…" Zach groaned as picked himself off the floor.

"Hp." came a muffled sound from Squall.

"E-ep!" Minaka shrieked as she pulled herself away from Squall, whose head was buried in her chest.

"Help me." Squall groaned, "Because I think Minaka's going to kill me for that."

"N-no! It was an accident!" Minaka blushed, turning away again as Clare came in, "O-oh, h-hi Clare! Guess what, we just discovered my new powers!"

It was a rather lengthy explanation, though Squall skipped out on the part about talking to the Reaper. That would've just scared everyone. Life just kept getting stranger with each passing day. A small consolation was that Melody seemed to be busy all the time, but Squall knew that one day that could change and ooooh boy, would his life get a lot stranger if she became a social link.

"I see…" Clare nodded, "So Minaka's powers are based off of her emotions at the time being. Interesting."

"Man do I feel outdone," Zach sighed.

"I'm sure you'll do just as well as them Zach," Clare encouraged him, "You still have more raw experience after all. Besides, you're seniority."

"Underclass uprising!" Squall lifted his fist into the air, laughing the entire time.

* * *

"Damn I'm tired," Zach sighed as he caught the soda Squall threw him, "Seriously though, I still don't see how you do it."

"Do what?" Squall asked as he opened his water bottle.

"Just… remain chaste and all that. I mean, there's an opportunity a lot of guys would like in front of you and you push it away."

"Well, for one, I'm me. Second, I've got a girl I'm still searching for. You're after Clare, right?" he got a nod in return, "It's simple then. If you really want to be with Clare, are you willing to push aside influences of others? Talk to me again when you've got an answer."

_**Crack!**_

_**Thy bond has been strengthened…**_

_Good. _Squall grinned as he walked away.

_It's nice to see you helping your friends like this. _Sydney commented.

_Hmph, I dunno, I still think this Zach kid could go for a har- OW!_

_I'm sorry, I was testing my shotgun out after cleaning it. _Emile said coolly, not missing a beat.

_Guys, stop abusing Emile. How would you like it if you were the one being targeted?_

_Armor. _Emile deadpanned.

_I wudz fite baxz! _Luke roared.

_You have a point. _Sydney sighed.

_HA! I wi- D'OH!_

_Squall only said 'if'. _Sydney grinned, _But unfortunately for you, it isn't so._

_Fuck me… _Clyde groaned.

_SPANG!_

_What the hell was that?! _Fortuna asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

_Frying pan of doom. _Sydney immediately replied.

_Wait, when could you guys do that?_

If crickets lived in Squall's mind, their chirping would be all he would hear.

_You know, TvTropes is to blame. _he sighed, not bothering to press onward.

Squall walked around the base for a while before he ran into Charlotte on the way out, who was wearing the school uniform as she usually did, except that she had the jacket buttoned up unlike Minaka who always kept it unbuttoned, while Clare never really wore the jacket at all.

"Hey! Charlotte!" Squall called out.

"O-oh, h-hi Squall." Charlotte waved.

"Squall!" Nagisa ran up to him from behind and hugged his leg, "Miss Charlotte was showing me around and helping me with my homework!"

"Really now?" Squall grinned, "Thank you, Charlotte."

"I-it's no problem…" she looked at the ground, "I suppose I'll head back-"

"Hey, how about we go get something to eat?" Squall interrupted her as he held Nagisa's hand, "All of us. Besides, I'd like to get to know the team a little better."

"A-alright then," Charlotte nodded as they walked out.

* * *

It was silent at the table they sat at, since Charlotte was very shy and couldn't really talk to Squall, who tried to hold a decent conversation with her.

"Hm, can you cook?" Squall asked, "I mean, if we ever have a school trip, I'd like to have someone there with me."

"I-I'm not that good." she stammered, _Stupid, stupid! You know you can't-_

"Awesome! That means you're not bad then, right?"

Charlotte let out a small, sad, grin, "No…"

"Yes you are!" Nagisa interrupted, "Squall's a king 'cause he has a knight at his command, and if the king believes in you, then you should believe in yourself 'cause the king-"

"T-thank you, Nagisa, but I'm not that good in cooking though…"

"Nuh-uh! I'm sure you're a good cook!" Nagisa cheered, "Ooh! Squall can show you, right?!" she asked with a gleam in her eyes, "Right…?"

"If the princess commands it," Squall replied with a grin.

_**Crash!**_

_**Thy bond has been strengthened…**_

"Let's go to your apartment! Squall can show you!" Nagisa started pulling on Squall's arm.

"Alright, alright. Come on Charlotte, I'm sure you'll be a great cook!" Squall's grin widened.

_He has a lot of faith in potential, _Charlotte mentally sighed, _Well, it couldn't hurt…_

* * *

"I'm sorry…" Charlotte said, tears in her eyes as Squall cleaned up the egg bits all over his apron, "I knew I wouldn't-"

"Charlotte."

"I'm sorry, I'm so terribly-"

"Charlotte!" Squall snapped, "There's nothing to be sorry for!"

"But I-"

"We all make mistakes." he sighed, "Look, maybe I wasn't right about you being a great cook, but you're better than Minaka, so that's a start."

"…"

"See, I started out where you are when it comes to cooking. Hell, I could ruin cereal." Squall patted Charlotte's head as she cracked a small grin, "We don't all start off as naturals."

"Miss Charlotte?! I heard a boom and-" Nagisa ran into the kitchen.

"Everything's fine, Nagisa." Squall assured, "Charlotte's not the best at cooking though."

Charlotte flinched, but then Nagisa spoke, "It's alright! My teacher says that not everyone is good at what they do when they start, but everyone has… po…ten…tial? Yeah, potential, and they can get better!"

"See Charlotte?" Squall flashed a smile, "If Nagisa believes in your potential like I do, then we can do this! Whaddaya say?"

"Alright," she nodded her head, "I can try!"

_**Smash!**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Priestess Arcana…**_

"Well, I'll clean up here." Squall grabbed a damp cloth, "Hey Charlotte, couldya take her back to base? I think my parents might still be around there."

"Okay… see you later Squall." she waved goodbye as she left the apartment room.

"Bye-bye!" Nagisa waved to Squall who waved back as she left with Charlotte, "Don't worry Miss Charlotte, I'm sure you'll get better!"

Squall grinned as he heard Nagisa's voice continue on even as it dimmed as they went further and further away, then-

"DAMNIT I FORGOT TO CHECK OUT A BOOK ON TAROT!"

* * *

**Wednesday, March 21****st**

"Come on, come on! We gotta train!" Squall grumbled as he cut through the 'bosses', as he called it since the enemies were a little more up to snuff than the Primids he had been cutting through. This time it was five Big Primids, not the giant one, but just an upgraded version of regular Primids. This time they didn't have a weakness as well, but at least Wind dealt effective damage towards them.

"Soul Phrase, Flames of Passion!" Minaka pointed a finger at one of the Big Primids, and a stream of fire burned through its Shadow Bugs, leaving a heart shape where it had burned through, "Whoa… kinda tired…"

"Don't waste your spiritual power." Squall cautioned as he blocked a punch and countered, "It seems to recover if we have a good night's rest, which is nice. HYAH!" Spinning around, he sliced the Primid's legs off and kicked the head, killing the Primid as it dissolved into Shadow Bugs.

"One down," Zach ducked underneath another punch, then quickly sliced twice across the Primid's chest, finishing with a double stab, "Make that two."

"Take this!" Minaka gracefully bisected the Primid she had burned a whole through, "Wow! It's getting a lot easier to do this!"

"Training." Squall leapt back, then took a punch to deliver a stronger one to the Primid, knocking it down, "Alright then… GOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!"

Punting the Primid in 'Squall Style' as Zach called it, the downed Primid was sent crashing into the last one, narrowly missing Minaka, destroying them both.

"Hell yeah!" Squall cheered as he felt more power rush into both him and Fortuna, "Alright, let's loot this floor and continue on."

"Whooohooo! Man that power rush… it feels really good!" Zach laughed.

"Doesn't it feel like it recharges all of your power though?" Minaka asked, "Because it does to me." She opened another chest she found, "Oooh! More armor!" Her jacket hit the ground and she began unbuttoning her shirt-

"N-no!" Squall quickly grabbed her arms, heat searing on his face, "M-minaka, not here! W-wait until we leave!"

"But I've been wearing this… gear." she pointed to the armor she had found before, "And it's getting to be uncomfortable, it's actually kinda tight."

"Oh damnit, I think Zach just fainted from a nose bleed," Squall sighed, "J-just wait until later!"

"I'm sure he won't peek. Besides, I know you won't peek, riiiight?" Minaka pressed up against Squall, who yelped and leapt back, covering his eyes.

"J-just make it quick!" he stammered, "A-and hurry!"

Thirty seconds later, he heard Minaka say, "Done!"

"Okay-" Squall turned around- "MINAKA!" he quickly spun around again, "That was not funny!"

"Awww, it was just a joke!" Minaka laughed as she put the new armor on, "Why Squall, have you never seen a girl-"

"Shut up! J-just hurry up!" he said, "I want to get as far as we can in this place today!"

"Oh? So, how far-"

"Not that way!" Squall snapped, fighting back a searing blush. Perhaps the name of Minaka's Soul Phrase did fit after all.

* * *

A few minutes of high sexual tension later, a very flustered Squall, nose bleeding Zach, and smirking Minaka continued their slaughter through the halls.

"Damn, there's like, eight Fire Primids!" Zach cursed as he dove out of the way, "It'll take too long and you'll get hit too many times casting Garu!"

"Then…" Squall smirked as his eye flashed with power once again just like when he had learned Garu, "We'll just have to take them all out at once!"

"Just how-" Minaka wondered before Squall crushed his card.

"Fortuna!" Squall roared as the blue flames engulfed him again.

This time, the small tornado that blew towards the Primids split up into eight smaller ones, knocking down all the Fire Primids, much to everyone's surprise.

"_Squall, that was amazing! I never knew Personae could learn skills like that…" _Clare mused, _"Well, take them out!"_

"Let's go!" Zach lifted a sword high, "Charge!"

"All Out Attack, let's go!" Squall dashed in, leading the charge as they attacked every enemy they could get their hands on.

"Lemme at 'em!" Minaka cheered as she began attacking.

When the Primids began to recover, the group retreated, and only five were left standing.

"Once again?" Zach grinned as he dodged a fireball to the face.

"Let's just dodge this counterattack." Squall swapped to Nekomata as a fireball came whizzing at his face, but switched back just in time to cast another all-hitting wind spell, "Magaru!"

"Where'd you get that name?" Minaka raised an eyebrow as the wind knocked all the Primids down again.

"I dunno, I think Fortuna just mentally told me or something."

_Squall, on your left! _Emile warned.

"Shit!" Squall grumbled, "You guys take care of these guys! We've got a few Armights coming! Change!" He switched to Omoikane to deal with the Armights that were weak to electricity, "Zio!"

Crushing the card, the brain-like creature appeared and with a swish of his tentacles, sent an electrical bolt at one of the Armights, but it wasn't enough.

_Damn, wish you had Mazio or whatever, _Squall sighed mentally as he defended against the other three Armights that weren't knocked over, _If I could just get to that Downed on… damnit, it got up._

Blocking six swords at once was difficult, if not impossible for Squall, who took a few hits. Managing to break away, he cast Zio again, and dashed over to the downed Armight before kicking it. Unfortunately, the Armight he launched it at cut in half, making the projectile enemy useless.

"You have got to be joking," Squall growled, "Zio zio zio!"

Squall had learned that Multi-Casting, which meant using skills in succession without allowing for any cool down drained a lot more spiritual power than if he would wait before casting, but that meant the enemy could get a chance to counter if he waited. This way, Squall could at least target their weakness and deal some damage when they were downed.

As the Armights slowly descended, Squall leapt at them, punching one, pushing off of it to attack the next, and then swinging around to then toss it at the final one.

_Damn… since when am I so good at combat?_

_Ya gotz da Orkish blud runiz troo ya! _Luke roared in laughter.

_It would seem that you've been playing a little too many arcade fighter games recently. _Sydney and Emile said in tandem.

_Eh, I guess it's cause you're getting stronger. _Clyde shrugged, _I dunno. Just bash a hole in it every time!_

_Um… Squall, can I get switched in now? _Fortuna asked.

_Sure… _Squall closed his eyes and switched back, "Geez… I'm really weakened now…"

Which is when he collapsed.

* * *

"Ugh…" Squall groaned as he awoke.

"Oh hey, you're up." Clare said from the seat next to Squall, "You're really pushing it Squall."

"Pushing what?"

"You've really been pushing your body's limits. I can acknowledge that you want to get stronger to help defend the city, but it's no good if you're indisposed." she crossed her arms.

"So… how are the others?"

"And of course!" Minaka sighed loudly as she entered the room, "Wakes up after falling unconscious and asks how everyone else is!"

"Habit." Squall got out of bed, "Well, I should get back to the apartment, I need to cook din-"

"No." Minaka glared at Squall, seriously unnerving him as he had never seen Minaka like this, "Squall, you're going to rest when we get home and allow me to cook-"

"Take out." Squall quickly interrupted, remembering the last time Minaka tried cooking.

"But-"

"Take out."

"Minaka… what happened when you tried cooking?"

"…"

"I'll get something from the buffet for you. Minaka, make sure Squall doesn't get sidetracked on the way back." Clare got up and left the two.

"Alright… let's head back," Squall mumbled reluctantly.

* * *

**Thursday, March 22****nd**

It was another day at school, Squall sleeping in Science much to Clare's disappointment, but she somewhat understood. Though he always seemed to miraculously wake up whenever the teacher needed a question to be answered. How he knew when to wake up would forever be a mystery.

"Ugh…" Minaka groaned as the group left English, "I totally bombed that quiz today. I totally forgot to read chapter… damnit."

"Fifteen," Zach added, "Hell, even I managed to get the reading done."

"You weren't trying to finish that infernal creature known as Algebra homework."

"Agreed." Clare sighed.

"Ah, so the Academic Queen Clare has a weakness?" Zach teased.

"S-shut up," Clare huffed with a slight blush, "But I got distracted, as there was some noise from Minaka's room. Just what were you two doing in there?"

"N-nothing!" Minaka said defensively, "Squall just wouldn't stay on the couch!"

Now, it dawned on Clare that it most likely had to do with food since Squall had been yelling something about 'not eating that… er…' and trailing off, because unfortunately, Minaka has never been able to cook. While Squall can joke about being able to ruin cereal… Minaka can't.

"W-well of course he wouldn't stay still!"

Zach on the other hand… was listening with widened eyes.

"What the hell were you doing to him?!"

"Well, I was trying to get him to taste-"

Then it hit her.

"Zach you pervert!"

"E-eh?!" Zach dodged a punch to his face, "I-it sounded a lot like-"

"I wanted him to try my cooking! But you took it entirely out of… oh." Minaka's entire face went red, "I-it's not what you think!"

"It better not be." Clare mumbled darkly.

"Why, hoping to take him for yourself?"

"Of course not."

"Ah… wait," Minaka smirked, "That means there is someone else."

"W-what?! No there isn't!" Clare crossed her arms and looked away from Zach, "Anyways, we should get back to class."

"Avoiding the subject, are we?" Minaka grinned.

"Eherm!" Clare coughed, "I have to get going to my Ethics class. I'll see you two later."

"So, who's the mystery guy?" Minaka nudged Zach as they walked to history, "I'm sure her old friend would know."

"I wouldn't know," Zach shook his head, "She's quite secretive when it comes to her private life."

"Hmmm… I deduce… it's you!" Minaka put a finger on her nose, "I mean, she wouldn't look at you when she denied wanting a guy."

"N-no! I mean, there's a lot more people that are better for her."

"Someone's jeal~ous!" Minaka sang out, dancing around him.

"Shut up," he growled.

"I'm just saying," Minaka pouted, disheartened as they sat down in their class.

* * *

**After School**

"Er… Hey, Aran!"

"Yes, Marcus?" Aran walked over to Marcus' chair where he was monitoring a computer monitor, "What is it?"

"…My wife."

"Yes? What about her?"

"You know she was marked dead after the initial SubSpace exploration incident, right?"

"Mhm."

"And there were no traces after?"

"Yes."

"She is trying to get into the base with her ID card."

"…"

"…"

"WAIT WHAT?!"

"Look!" he pointed to the monitor. A brunette that looked like an older version of Clare dressed in a white blouse, black skirt that went down to her knees, and a lab coat, sighed as she swiped the card again.

"Damnit!" they heard her yell, "My ID card was not supposed to have expired for another three months! Why the hell are they not letting me in here?!" she tapped her foot against floor impatiently, "Agh! I'll have to wait until Clare gets back then."

"Confirm identity." Aran whispered to Marcus as he turned down the volume so as others wouldn't hear.

"Already did a cross check. Yes, it has to be her." Marcus slowly nodded, "I'll… uh, get Clare."

"Bring Squall. He's our best right now against Primids, and you know what their capabilities are. I know her Smash Factor isn't supposed to be high enough but you never know."

"Right…" Marcus nodded as he got up and left.

* * *

"Opening door…" Marcus hesitantly muttered.

"Dad… why are we here?" Clare tilted her head in curiosity.

Squall, who had known the story of Clare's mother and the unfortunate accident, took one look outside and-

"PERSONA!"

"Wait Squall!" Marcus held Fortuna back, "We're not sure yet!"

"Dismiss." Squall waved his hand but readied his walking stick, "I swear though, if she even tries to harm you I will not hesitate."

"Marcus, is that you?!" the woman took a step forward with outstretched arms for a hug.

_Damn, she's going to lure him in then stab him! _Squall panicked, still not trusting the woman.

_Commander, aren't you-_

"Persona!"

"Squall no!" Clare tackled Squall.

"Um… sorry." Squall bowed slightly, "Paranoid, that's all."

"Ah, how are you Clare?"

"I'm fine mother." Clare answered politely, and she went in for the hug-

_Shit, I let my guard down-_

"Persona!"

"Damnit Squall!" Clare snarled, but then caught herself, "Eherm."

"Ah, sorry. Dismiss."

"Ah, this must be the Squall that everyone on the streets was whispering about! Thank you for piloting that robot-" Squall saw a metallic gleam around her neck.

_Damn! She's got a bomb disguised as a necklace-_

"Pers-"

"Squall why the hell are you so paranoid?!"

"…I watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya last night."

"…" the Andersons gave him a funny look.

"HEY, I am JUST saying, Haruhi is SCARY! I mean, a girl with no control over her reality warping powers, and that doesn't freak you out?! A girl who could quite possibly erase you from existence if she desired it?! A girl with no control or knowledge of her powers that could destroy the world?! THAT'S SCARY!" Squall coughed, "Ahem. I'm done now. That and I watched Full Metal Panic. Sousuke's tendencies rub off on you."

"…" Triple silence is unnerving.

"Right, well, since you haven't tried to kill them, also the bases alarms weren't tripped, you are obviously not a Primid."

"…Squall, my wife's Smash Factor wasn't high enough to be trophied."

"…That would've been useful to know, Mr. Anderson." Squall slumped his head, "Well… I'm going to go now…"

"No. I would like to know more about the young man that this Minaka girl said Clare liked."

"You mean Zach?" Squall said, not missing a beat, holding back a smirk as he dialed Zach, "Oi, Zach. Clare's parents want to talk to you. Yes, plural. Her mom's back, apparently survived. You have thirty seconds before they stop considering you even as a potential husband-" He felt someone had just broken the sound barrier, "Right, that was a joke, just so you know"

"… Regardless, I came." Zach coughed as he stopped running, hiding a faint blush, and was doing a much better job than the young Anderson, who's face rivaled the flames of Minaka's first Soul Phrase, "So, it seems you made it out alive, Mrs. Anderson."

"Yes, I did. Unfortunately all the recording devices broke when it all went to hell, so I couldn't do any real data collection. Ah, I forgot to introduce myself to our newest fighter. I'm Raynie Anderson," she extended a hand, which Squall shook, "Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine," Squall tipped an imaginary hat, "But hey, I was actually just about to go grab Minaka so I could help her with some sword training."

"Squall, you really gotta stop that overworking-ness of yours." Clared snapped at him, "Go home, sleep, and I swear if you stay up fixing up that network of yours, I will-"

"Oh, he's good at networking? I needed some help with that-"

"Mother!"

"I'll compromise. I fix your mother's network, and _then _I'll go home," Squall crossed his arms, "Okay?"

"…" Clare remained silent as she gazed at Squall, both pairs of eyes daring the other to back down, "Very well then."

* * *

Squall hummed The Great Escape as he pulled out the color coding table for the wiring. It was a tedious job, as he had to request all the other network information from his dad. Plus subnetting could be a _bitch _at times, as Squall quickly relearned.

"Damn you subnetting and how much of a bitch you can be…" Squall murmured to himself.

"And girls still want to kiss you with that mouth?" Raynie chuckled at the young boy's antics. Ah, youth.

"I can't help it if it's been a while since I've done this, and I forgot how annoying it is to do all of this." Squall shrugged, then yawned, "Nyan…"

"Tired?" Raynie raised an eyebrow, "You need a coffee?"

"No thank you, ma'am," Squall shook his head.

"I can see why Clare respects you a lot," Raynie grinned.

"I do try," Squall laughed as he stood up, "Should be good to go. Wait about five to ten minutes, and you're computer should be on the network."

"Thank you Squall… now, I'm usually part of the medical staff, so I want to tell you that you _should _be getting more sleep, alright? You need to learn how to balance things out."

"… I guess I could try," Squall looked down on the ground, "But I… I guess I feel that I need to finish things as fast as possible, because I just want to spend time with my pals and all that."

"That's nice, but they aren't really going to like hanging around with you if you're always tired. Could send the wrong message."

"…Oh." Squall gave a sheepish smile, "Well, uh, thanks for opening my eyes, Miss Anderson."

"I do try, Squall, I do try."

_**SMASH**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou hast established a new bond…**_

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when creating Personae of the Temperance Arcana…**_

_Well, I guess that's good. Anyways… bedtime. Doctor's orders… _Squall hid a grin, "See you around then, Miss Anderson."

"Take care Squall." she waved as he exited her room, "There's something odd about that boy…"

* * *

Clare sighed as she sat down in the Sweet Shop with Minaka, setting down her slice of cake on the ground. The Sweet Shop was a very common place for girls to hang out, and it specialized in anything sweet. Cakes, ice cream, all sorts of sugary confections. Clare's slice of cake was a simple yellow cake with vanilla on top, while Minaka had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and whipped cream.

"Why so down?" Minaka poked Clare's cake with her spoon, "Don't tell me that your mother doesn't like Zach-"

"Quiet down!" Clare hissed.

"Embarassed?" Minaka teased, giggling.

"No! I just don't want rumors to start."

"Hehe, professionalism and all that?"

"Maybe," Clare took a bite out of Minaka's ice cream with her fork somehow.

"Hey!"

"Just paying you back for the last time you were here." Clare's eyes narrowed at Minaka's before the two erupted into laughter.

_Bzzt! Bzzt!_

"Hm?" Minaka looked at the text, "Holy shit!"

"Minaka, language!"

"Squall just texted me he's actually going to sleep!" Minaka nearly cheered, "Whooohooo!"

"He did say he'd go to sleep after fixing my mother's issues with the network she had before she was supposedly killed." Clare shrugged, "But let's not talk about guys for now."

"Well, I guess. I _do _tease you enough in school already." Minaka playfully got into a pondering sort of posture, "So yeah. What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I did hear that White Moon might be coming out with a new dish…"

And two friends talked, not noticing the rest of the day go by.

* * *

**Damn it's been a while since I touched this fic.**

**But hey, one more chapter of Social Linking then we finally have the FIRST BOSS FIGHT CHAPTER! WHOOOHOOOO!**

**So, nearly there! See you guys next chapter!**

**Don't forget to review, follow, or favorite if you want to!**


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